


5 Times Tony and Peter were Father and Son

by Lansfics7



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Avengers Family, Bashing Team Cap, Family, Father-Son Relationship, Hurt Peter, Hurt Tony, Hurt Tony Stark, I love writing this, Kidnapped, Kidnapped Peter, Love, Marvel Universe, Peter Parker Can't Keep Secrets, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Avengers, Protective Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Sarcasm, Sassy Peter, Tony Angst, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, laughs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2019-11-28 18:47:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18212180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lansfics7/pseuds/Lansfics7
Summary: Absolutely love the father son relationship between these two <3Just 5 moments I've thought up. Whump warning. But it's all worth it.Check out "I Got You First" on my page if you liked this story.Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy! :) :)Don't forget to comment and leave kudos!Also I don’t own Marvel. Duh





	1. Field Trip

**Author's Note:**

> Peter takes a field trip to the Avengers Compound. And all doesn't go as planned...

“Aren’t you excited Peter?” May asked Peter as he gulped down the last bit of the orange juice in his favorite glass.  
“I guess so,” Peter said weakly.  
May looked up from her bag she was rummaging through and gave him an exaggerated eyebrow raise, “What’s wrong?”  
“The kids don’t believe me, that I have an internship with Tony. So it’s going to be weird, proving them wrong. I don’t want it to end badly.”  
“It won’t,” she assured him, walking over and placing her hands on his shoulders. She gave him a quick squeeze, “Relax Pete. You texted him right, letting him know your school was coming?”  
Peter forced himself not to hesitate and he shoved the last bit of toast in his mouth, “Yeah.”  
“Ok then. It’s going to be fine. Have a great day. I love you, I’ll be home late tonight. Kiss,” she kissed him on the cheek and ruffled his hair before grabbing her purse and walking to the door.  
“Bye May!” He called with a mouth full. The door shut behind her and Peter sighed, pulling out his phone. 

Message not Delivered!  
The Message to Tony was not delivered.

“Oops,” Peter said weakly, before he shoved his phone in his pocket and grabbed his plate to put it in the dishwasher. If he had told Tony he could have guaranteed Mr. Stark would have made some big deal about coming down to talk to his class, giving them an all access tour and making sure Peter was the star of the show. He didn’t want to be embarrassed; he already felt inferior when Tony was being Tony Stark. I mean, come on, it was Tony freaking Stark. Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. Peter didn’t want to be at his side the whole time, having the whole class look at him like he was some sort of idol, showing them around his second home. And he definitely didn’t want to slip up and reveal his secret. He wanted to be treated as Peter Parker, a kid from Queens, on a field trip at the coolest compound in the whole world. Tony would understand that, right?  
He quickly brushed his teeth, texted with Ned for a bit, and then looked up at the clock across his room. Peter grabbed his backpack, checked to make sure his suit was still at the bottom. He plugged his headphones in, grabbed his keys and headed out the door. 

“Yo Parker,” Flash snickered behind him, “You ready to be called out today? When we get back, I’m telling the whole school you were lying about your internship.”  
“You do that Flash,” Peter said, annoyed with the jabs he had been absorbing for the past 20 minutes.  
“Leave him alone Flash, you’ll run out of words,” MJ rolled her eyes from the seat next to him, getting up and sliding into the seat behind Peter so she could block Flash’s view. The bully laughed and turned around to talk to his friends.  
“Don’t listen to him Peter,” Ned said encouragingly, popping his head up from the seat in front of him. “You’ll get to prove him wrong today. You texted Mr. Stark right?” He leaned over the seat, crossing his arms and looking at Peter hopefully.  
“Actually...no,” Peter said weakly.  
Both of his friends glared at him and Peter realized he had to saw something real quick before they murdered him on the bus.  
“I’ll have other chances to prove I have an internship,” Peter assures them, “but I don’t want Tony to make it weird.”  
“You’re on a first name basis with the guy, how could it be weird?” Ned marveled, before he added, “and dude, you told me once you called him dad.”  
“Shut up Ned! That was private,” Peter grumbled, peeking out behind a hand at his other friend who’s mouth had dropped and then closed really fast.  
MJ tried to hard to hide the lip curl that was forming. Peter gave a sarcastic laugh and rolled his eyes as Ned made a face and gave Peter an apologetic look.  
“It’ll be fine,” Peter said, half trying to convince himself.  
“But you promised an autograph,” Ned whined.  
Peter almost wanted to say that he could give him an autograph right now. He sometimes helped Tony do fan mail to make sure he had enough time to actually get sleep at night. He was almost better at the billionaire’s signituture than Tony himself.  
“I’ll get you an autograph,” Peter said sincerely.  
Ned seemed satisfied and he grumbled something like, yeah yeah, and then put his headphones in again. MJ leaned over the seat and Peter turned so he could face her.  
“He’s gonna find out. It’s Tony Stark,” she pointed out.  
Peter rubbed the back of his neck and then ran a hand through his curls.  
“Yeah…”  
“Is he gonna be mad?” MJ asked.  
Peter shook his head, “No.”  
Now that he’s thinking about it, Tony never really got angry with him, except that one time on the top of the building where he got his suit taken away. Other than that, and after since then, Tony never really got mad at Peter, which he’s realizing makes him feel good, because Tony got mad at a lot of people.  
“Your funeral,” she shrugs before disappearing over the edge of the seat as she sits back down.  
“Thanks,” Peter mumbles sarcastically. MJ sticks a thumbs up. 

“Welcome to the Avengers Compound Midtown!”  
Peter started to walk towards the steps, which is where he usually goes when coming to the compound after school on Friday. He stops short before realizing that the group is walking the other way and Ned is calling his name. Peter backtracks, and of course Flash is there to point out his mistake.  
“Work here huh? Doesn’t even know which way to go,” he snickers, forcefully bumping Peter with his shoulder. Peter shook his head and walked away to catch up with Ned, Flash flicking him in the back of the head just for good measure. Peter rubbed the back of his head and found himself in the middle of the group, flanked with MJ and Ned.  
The tour guide, who Peter knew by name, was still talking. Kate hadn’t seen him yet though as she put on a huge smile and motioned his school group towards security, “Please step this way to the left, take off your backpacks and step through the scanners. You’ll be given a badge that looks like this, since you all are guests. Make sure you’re wearing them at all times and most importantly, don’t lose this. Understand?”  
The class let out a chorus of agreements and Peter is a little nervous. He knew the scanners would pick him up. It was an easy way to prove to Flash he interned here, but would also be embarrassing. He hoped the automated scanner didn’t reveal too much.  
Kate was still talking, “You only get one, and they give you access to most of the parts of the compound.”  
“What do the colors mean?” Flash asked, picking at his badge.  
“Green is for guest. It gives you access to only certain parts of the compound, mostly the upper level, lobby, cafe- those sorts of things.”  
It’s finally Peter’s turn to go through the scanner and Kate catches his eye, “Hi Peter!”  
“Hi Kate,” he smiles weakly.  
A couple of kids look slightly surprised as Kate comes up and gives Peter a hug. His face flushes with embarrassment.  
She lays a hand on his shoulder, “Did you tell Mr. Stark you were coming?”  
“No, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t either?” he asks slowly.  
She nods then, smiling a bit and giving him a wink. Peter notices a couple people staring but unfortunately Flash had missed that whole spiel and was now sauntering forward, a cocky grin on his face. Peter met his gaze and stepped through the scanner.  
Surprisingly enough, FRIDAY’s surprised voice met him instead.  
“Hi Peter, I was not informed you were coming today. How are you?”  
Everyone stares and Peter’s chest fills with pride. He’s encouraged by the confused and awestruck look on Flash’s face.  
“I’m ok FRIDAY, thanks. Yeah, it’s a school trip.”  
“I am informing Mr. Stark about your arrival.”  
“No, no, no no FRIDAY wait don’t tell Tony-” Peter panics.  
Too late. There’s silence and Peter sighs.  
“Mr. Stark is informed,” FRIDAY says.  
Peter winces and sighs sarcastically, “Thanks FRIDAY.”  
“You should have told him yourself Peter,” FRIDAY chides and Peter swears that if AI’s could smirk, she would be smirking big time.  
“Yeah, yeah,” Peter grumbles, and he walks through the scanner.  
Flash finally finds his voice and he raises his hand. Kate calls on him.  
“You forgot to give Peter a badge,” he splutters.  
Kate flicks her gaze to Peter who must have shrank back a bit. Even though Kate doesn’t know about Peter being Spiderman, she still sees him as his confident self, loud and enthusiastic. Peter knows he’s quieter at school, but mostly around Flash. He could take Flash any day but this was the kid who had been bullying him since he could remember. He still makes Peter shrink back, and the look on his face must give away the full story.  
He sees a look of understanding on Kate’s face as she looks back and forth between the two boys. She focuses her stare of distaste at Flash and speaks articulately.  
“Peter doesn’t need a badge. He interns under Tony Stark and has quite a reputation here. He has access to the whole compound, so if he did have a badge it would be a gold color, and only 2 other people have that badge- Pepper Potts and Tony Stark.”  
Kate brushes by him, giving Peter a wink and continues talking about the main room. Flash stands there, a little embarrassed and he clears his throat and follows, glaring at Peter who quickly walks to catch up to MJ and Ned, grabbing their arms and pulling them forward.  
“So Stark knows now,” Ned said in awe as they shuffle away, “Do you think we’ll get to meet him?”  
“I don’t know, just let me worry about him probably trying to embarrass me or something and just enjoy the tour,” Peter hisses.  
“I can walk by myself,” MJ teases. Peter realizes he’s still holding her arm and he quickly lets go, his face red in embarrassment.  
“Sorry,” he mumbles.  
Peter’s self conscious for a couple minutes, expecting Tony to swoop in with his Iron Man suit and crack a few jokes, rub his hair and then give them an extended tour, asking Peter about the stuff he of course is a nerd about- or something like that.  
While walking past the conference rooms, Peter can’t help but smile. He realizes how lucky he is, seeing his chair next to Tony’s. Then suddenly, Peter feels his phone buzzing and he slowly takes it out, looking at it with one eye closed and then groaning.  
Peter catches Kate’s eye in the front and mouths, Tony. He holds up his phone. She nods discreetly and stops the group, asking if anyone has questions so Peter can whisper to his friends and hurry down the hallway unnoticed to take the call.  
“Hey T-” Peter clears his throat, bringing his voice down a few octaves as he ducks around a corner, “Hi Tony.”  
“Hey kid, uh where are you right now?”  
“School,” Peter says unconvincingly.  
“Yeah well FRIDAY’s down so I thought I would check in. Hey what are you doing answering my call in class?” Tony asks.  
Peter breaths a silent sigh of relief. FRIDAY didn’t tell him. He didn’t know yet.  
“It’s you. I mean if it was May I’d be like eh, but it’s you,” Peter laughed.  
“Fair point,” Tony gives a low chuckle, “so how are you doing Pete?”  
Peter raises an eyebrow, peaking around the corner to see his class still there in a group, Kate stalling as she answers questions.  
“I’m doing ok. Just finished a Spanish qui-” Peter turns back around and his eyes widen. He nearly jumps out of his skin.  
“Hi,” he squeaks, cursing his spider senses for not realizing there was someone walking up the hallway until he remembers hearing footsteps and thinking nothing of it.  
Tony shuts off his phone and crosses his arms, a foot in front of Peter. He raises his eyebrows, “Busted. Besides, Spanish isn’t this block.”  
“You know my schedule?” Peter says, still talking into the phone for some reason.  
“Of course I know you’re- stop it,” Tony grabs Peter’s phone from his ear and puts it in his pocket, sticking a finger at him, “You don’t get that for the rest of the day.”  
Peter splutters, “But that’s not fair! And I need to text May when I get home!”  
“FRIDAY will do it,” Tony said.  
“FRIDAY’s down you said,” Peter pointed out.  
Tony raises a cocky eyebrow, “You think I was serious? Since when has FRIDAY ever been down?”  
“I should have known,” Peter grinned, shaking his head slightly.  
“Yeah and I should have known too.” Tony finds the perfect opportunity to focus on the real question at hand: “Why didn’t you tell me Pete?”  
Peter wrung his hands, “I didn’t want it to be weird. Or for you to embarass me,” he admits. Tony smirks at that as Peter continues,  
“or for me to embarrass you. What if I slip up?” Peter points out, “And just blurt out something about spiderman, and then stutter and then get tripped up or something and let something slip because you know I talk a lot and sometimes-”  
Tony, on the verge of laughing, puts his hands on Peter’s shoulders, “Kid, relax.”  
Peter nods, “That’s the thing. I am. I feel so normal here, and with you, and I didn’t want to screw anything up.”  
What was he thinking? Now that he said it out loud it sounded stupid. Tony would never under-  
“I understand kid,” Tony says.  
Peter’s head snaps up and he raises an eyebrow, “You- you do?”  
“Yeah. Listen, I’ll let you go on the rest of your tour and at the end we can have a quick question and answer session so your friends can meet me, sound good? I promise I won’t embarrass you.” Tony grins, ruffling Peter’s hair.  
Peter shyly smooths it back down and says, “You’d do that?”  
“Kid, I’d do anything for you,” Tony says sincerely, putting his hands on Peter’s shoulders again.  
Peter grins and says, “Thanks Mr. Stark.”  
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t get all emotional,” he jokes, before he looks at the time, “Go away underoos. I’ll see you in a bit.”  
“Ok,” Peter says happily.  
Tony catches his sleeve and wacks him playfully but meaningfully in the arm, locking eyes with him so they can have a full understanding, “Just tell me next time ok? I didn’t clean.”  
“You never clean,” Peter jokes, but he nods and Tony knows he promises.  
After giving him a fake glare, Tony winks at him.  
“Get going nerd,” he demands affectionately, as he walks back down the hallway he came, waving him off behind him.  
“Can I have back my phone?” Peter calls as quietly as he can.  
“No.”  
Peter sighs and grins one last time, relieved Tony isn’t mad.  
“Ok, it looks like your questions are done, we’re going to keep moving,” Kate says, the minute she sees Peter emerge from behind the corner. He runs and catches up with MJ and Ned.  
MJ knits her brow, “Where’s your phone?”  
“Tony took it,” Peter grumbles. Ned’s jaw drops. MJ snorts. Peter glares at her, “Whatever. Let’s go.”

“How did you do it,” Flash hisses in Peter’s ear, pushing him over so he can sit on the seat next to him in the cafe.  
“How did I do what Flash?” Peter sighs.  
“How much did you pay her to say that? And you know hacking into Tony Stark’s automated scanner is illegal right?”  
“Wow you are stretching,” MJ fires back.  
“Shut up Michelle,” Flash snaps. He raises his eyebrows,  
“Well? How much did you pay her?”  
“I didn’t pay her Flash. Her name is Kate and I know her from the internship,” Peter says calmly.  
“Bullcrap Parker,” Flash grumbles.  
“Did you ever considered that maybe he does have an internship?” Ned points out hesitantly.  
“No, his brain is way to small and he’s way too conceited to ever admit that Ned,” MJ says, shaking her head.  
“I’m going to tell Stark. If I ever see him I’m going to tell him you’ve been faking an internship with him. Or maybe I’ll send him an email. He could ruin your college career you know,” Flash said confidently.  
“Tell him yourself,” Peter said, exhausted by the constant nagging, “He’s having a surprise Q&A session before the end of the tour.”  
Both MJ and Ned perk up at this, but then remember the bully is still leaning over their friend and become defensive again. Flash is taken back for a second, but he quickly snaps out of his shock, “Oh yeah? Well it’s not on the itinerary so how do you know?”  
“Because I talked to him Flash,” Peter said.  
“Yeah right. How?”  
“He called me,” Peter rubbed his forehead, just wanting to eat his lunch.  
“Uh huh, sure. You don’t even have your phone,” Flash noticed.  
“Yeah because he took it,” Peter said defensively.  
Flash bursts into laughter, clapping Peter on the back harder on purpose. Peter flinches and curls his fists.  
“Yeah sure, Tony Stark took your phone. You’re an idiot Parker. I can’t wait to watch you cry or something when I expose you in front of everyone.”  
“Neither can I,” Peter sighs.  
“What was that?” Flash snaps.  
“You heard him Eugene, unless you’re dumb and deaf. Now back off,” MJ says, getting to her feet angrily. There was a glare plastered on her face.  
Flash laughs and shakes his head at Peter, grinning cockily before he saunters off. MJ sits down and looks at Peter with slight disappointment.  
“You could take him,” she says, “why don’t you?”  
Peter shrugs. MJ and Ned both look at him sympathetically and return to their lunch.

They’re leaving the compound. Peter can’t believe it. Kate is leading them back to the entrance so they can get their bags and leave. Maybe Tony got stuck in a meeting or something. He couldn’t blame him. He had better things to do than answer some high schoolers questions. Peter knew he would get it on the bus ride home and frankly for the rest of his life from Flash, but he still couldn’t bring himself to be mad at Tony. Peter hung his head and Ned shoved his shoulder softly.  
“Maybe he’s making a dramatic entrance?” Ned suggested.  
“No. He wouldn’t do that,” Peter said softly, “Let’s just go.”  
“Of course I would,” a voice says. Peter whirls and sees Tony is walking towards the group. Peter grins and makes eye contact with the billionaire for maybe 3 seconds before everyone turns around and swarms in front of Peter. He gets shoved to the back of the group and sighs, but he’s still glad Tony showed up.  
Kate has a hand on his shoulder and she says, “How about you pick the conference room.”  
Peter smiles a bit, “Ok.”  
He and Kate lead the way, Tony engulfed in a sea of high schoolers and shouts and questions as Peter opens the door to the Avengers conference room. He starts walking towards his chair but is soon pushed aside by Flash who lunges for the seat and plops down on it, spinning it and kicking his feet up on the table.  
“That’s my seat,” Peter said angrily.  
“Doesn’t say your name on it,” Flash shoots back, “Go find another one Parker.”  
No. That’s his seat. But Peter doesn’t want a fight. He looks around and sees every seat is taken so he pulls up a chair and sits in the corner.  
Tony takes his place at the head of the table, buttoning his suit in a cocky fashion, beaming at the kids who are jumping with excitement.  
He looks to his left, expecting to see Peter there, and does a double take, physically recoiling when he sees Flash. Peter knows the look, and he knows what he’s thinking.  
That’s not Peter. Where’s Peter?  
Peter gives a little cough and discreetly raises his hand from the corner. Tony sees him and locks eyes with him. They have a small conversation while exchanging looks, and it all takes place in less than a second. 

What’s the jerk doing there?  
He got there first.  
No he didn’t.  
It’s fine.  
Is this the kid that’s bullying you? Turbo?  
Flash.  
Same thing. Is this the kid?  
…  
Is it?  
Yes.  
I can kick him out of your seat if you want. Or the building. Or Queens.  
It’s fine.  
Mhm.  
It is!  
Yeah.  
Tony it is.  
Ok!  
Don’t give me that look.  
I’m not giving you a-

“This is so cool Mr. Stark,” Ned says, breaking their conversation and Tony snaps his gaze over to Peter’s friend, smiling at him.  
“Yes, yes it is. I’m glad you think so. I’m sorry I didn’t lead the tour myself, I didn’t know you were coming. But now we’re here, so ask away.”  
Tony answers a couple questions, most of which Peter could answer, cracks a few jokes and even gets some snacks for them to eat. Peter scowles when he sees Flash making a mess in his spot. Tony doesn’t seem to be too thrilled either.  
It’s only a matter of time before Flash’s hand shoots up. He gives Peter a cocky and condescending look before Tony reluctantly calls on him.  
“What’s your name young man?” Tony asks.  
“Eugene sir. But people call me Flash,” he says proudly, puffing his chest out a bit.  
Tony is not impressed. In fact, his eyes become colder for a split second before he smiles fakely,  
“And what can I answer for you today Eugene?”  
Peter almost snorts. He knows Tony used his first name on purpose.  
“Are there any internships here at Stark Industries?” Flash asks innocently.  
Tony is slightly taken back by that question. He shakes his head and speaks slowly, “No. I mean, a few for some select college students, but no.”  
“So no high school student would be allowed, correct?” Flash says confidently.  
Tony knows where this is going. Peter can see it in his eyes. So he’s slight shocked when Tony answers,  
“No.”  
The look that Flash gives Peter makes him want to slouch down in his chair. Flash is triumphant and he clears his throat, “Then I think you should know that one of our students, Peter Parker, over there, in the corner, has been pretending to have an internship with you. I’m almost positive he’s paid some workers to pretend to know him and hacked your security.”  
Flash finally finishes and he sets his hands on the table and smiles cockily, pleased with himself beyond belief. Tony turns his attention to Peter who’s looking at him with a mix of emotions. Worry, hurt, fear, submission, anger, sadness, angst…  
“Mr. Parker?” Tony says firmly. Flash almost jumps in excitement.  
“Yes sir,” Peter finds his voice.  
“Come here,” Tony says.  
Peter slowly gets up and makes his way around the table, feeling his classmates eyes on him. He stands at Tony’s side and waits, his brain trying to comprehend what the closest thing he had to a father is doing. He meets Tony eyes and then the billionaire breaks his cold stare that hurt Peter more than a slap in the face and winks at him, before turning to glare at Flash.  
“First off, please move. That’s his seat,” Tony says simply.  
“Sir?” Flash stutters.  
Tony motions to Peter and then points to the seat Flash is sitting in, “That’s his seat. You can move.”  
Flash gets up slowly, remembering Peter saying it was his seat when they had entered the conference room. He backs away, still confused and Peter gleefully takes his rightful place at Tony’s side. He already feels better, but Tony isn’t done.  
“Are you close with your father Eugene?”  
Flash knist his eyebrows, standing awkwardly with no seat, “yes sir.”  
“And if someone was picking on you or accusing you and your father saw, what would he do?”  
Flash decides to just answer the question with a slight smirk, “He’d put them in their place sir.”  
“Great. So I’ll put you in your place,” Tony stands, making Flash shrink back, “Peter is not an intern for Stark Industries. He is my personal intern, meaning he has access to yes, the entire building, he doesn’t need a badge, and he’s recognized by my AI which you heard at the front, FRIDAY. So I don’t want to hear another word of him faking anything. He is by far the smartest kid I know, and a lot more respectful than you.”  
Everyone had been watching with jaws dropped as Flash was bashed by the billionaire. Peter spun in his chair awkwardly as Tony went at him. The man who was leaning protective towards peter finally took a breath and smiled fakely again.  
“I figure by ‘putting them in their place’ you meant something different but I think I’ve made myself clear.”  
“You have sir,” Flash squeaks.  
“Do I have to ask you to leave the building?” Tony asks.  
“No sir,” Flash shakes his head vigorously.  
“Good. Then I think we’re done here. Oh and Peter, here’s your phone,” Tony said, glaring at Flash and handing Peter his phone without looking. Peter took it with a small thank you and a big smile on his face. Flash turned around on his heel and hurried back to sit in the chair Peter had left in the corner.  
Tony looked over at Peter and ruffled his hair affectionately. The best part being that Peter didn’t even mind.  
“Alright, any more questions?” Tony clasped his hands.  
Excited by that sudden outburst, hands shoot up again and Tony and Peter take turns answering questions side by side. Later MJ swears they looked like father and son.  
When the questions finally die down, Tony and Peter discuss going to the outlook, the part of the compound that turns into a tower they had just finished building, surrounded by windows. The students seem excited to go, and judging from the glint in Tony’s eyes and his signature smirk, Peter knows that’s where they’re headed next. Tony lets Kate leads the students out and Tony and Peter hold open the double doors.  
When everyone is out they follow suite, and Tony moves closer to Peter, starting to put his arm around him before he stops, remembering Peter didn’t want to be embarrassed. But Peter smiles and moves closer, standing higher so Tony’s arm rests on his shoulders.  
Stark grins proudly and Peter can’t help but smile. Tony clasps his shoulder and Peter finally turns to look at him.  
“Thanks Tony,” he says shyly. He sees a couple of kids looking back and pointing, not at all subtle, but it doesn’t bother Peter.  
“Any time kid, any time,” Tony says, “I’m proud of you.”  
“Thanks,” Peter grins, his chest heating up with happiness.  
They enter the balcony and everyone immediately runs over to the windows to take pictures of the view. Tony and Peter hang back; they come up here every Friday to test out their suits. Peter sees the dent in the wall he had made when he didn’t clip one of Tony’s repulsors on entirely. The hand had shot off and drove straight into the metal, making a dent. Peter had been so scared Tony would be mad but Stark was laughing, asking FRIDAY so save the video recording. Peter realizes how close he and Stark had become, and now thinking back on it, remembers the face Tony had when Peter accidently called him dad. At first he had thought it was confusion or uncomfort, but he realizes it had been shock.  
Peter looks over at Tony, who was smiling now, his arm still around Peter’s shoulders protectively. He was about to say something before he hears Ned call his name, waving his camera.  
“Peter get over here!” MJ shouts, “picture!”  
Tony nods, giving Peter a small wink as Peter slowly starts to move away, swallowing the words that now seemed stupid that were seconds of exiting his mouth.  
Peter hurries to his friends and one of their classmate positions them, smiling and laughing, in front of the windows. She snaps a few, and then moves them for the lighting. Tony is watching, laughing at the innocence and childish behavior being displayed as they smile in front of the windows.  
“One more!”  
Everyone stands still, smiling, as Anna, the girl taking the picture, counts down.  
“Three, two-”  
Everything stops.  
The hairs on Peter’s arm stand up.  
He freezes.  
He can hear everything.  
Everything.  
Time stands still and Peter’s eyes dart to the window.  
He doesn’t know what it is, but his heartbeat is going a million miles an hour and sweat breaks out on his forehead. He looks at Tony, tense and alert, before his eyes narrow. There’s a low whistle, getting slightly louder. His body urges him to run.  
So he does, breaking away from his friends, running and crossing the room impossibly fast straight at Tony. He lunges, just as the window behind him shatters.  
Tony’s brow knits as Peter throws himself forward, hands out as if trying to catch him, understanding too late that Peter is trying to bring him down. Peter tackles Tony and they both hit the ground, but not before Peter feels something sink into his shoulder, and with it, excruciating pain.  
Screams echo in his ringing ears and he goes limp against Tony’s chest who had hit the ground with a groan and instinctively pulled Peter close to protect him, turning and shielding him from the window. Tony’s shaking hand was holding Peter’s head and he doesn’t let him go.  
“FRIDAY lockdown now!” Tony screams, “Everyone get away from the windows! Go!”  
Tony realizes Peter had gone limp against his chest and he suddenly recoils, bringing Peter away from the embrace to inspect him. Peter lets out a small whimper at the sudden loss of protection he had felt when Tony was crouched over him. He meets Stark’s eyes and he knows his pain isn’t unnoticed. Tony curses, his voice shaking with fear.  
Tears are pricking at Peter’s eyes and he’s shaking, sucking in breaths and gritting his teeth. His palms hurt from clenching his fists and Tony quickly finds the shoulder wound, his hand wet with Peter’s blood.  
“Oh God...kid…” he murmurs.  
“Are...you...ok…” Peter whispers.  
“Pete I’m fine. Why did you do that!” Tony curses, trying to apply pressure to the wound. It stings and burns and hurts and Peter lets out a strangled cry, squirming in Tony’s grip.  
“It hurts, it hurts-” Peter gasps, kicking his legs, wishing the pain would just go away.  
Tony recoils, his hand trembling, with tears in his eyes and settles on just hugging Peter to his chest again, brushing Peter’s curls, wet with sweat away from his face, “Just stay awake. Peter, hey listen to me kid. Do you understand? I need you to stay awake. Focus on my voice ok?”  
“Mhm,” Peter says weakly, his eyes already threatening to close on him.  
The windows had already been covered by strong metal sheets and just then a suit flies in and attaches itself to Tony, forming around his body and hands that are cradling Peter. 2 more decoys fly in and start directing the screaming students downstairs.  
“Peter!”  
That’s Ned, Peter thinks.  
“He’ll be fine. I promise. Go! Now!” That’s Tony and now his soft voice is directed to Peter as he stands, holding his limp form in his arms.  
“You’re gonna be fine ok? Just focus on me kid. Peter, focus. Listen to me, focus on me.” Tony says this while getting to his feet, wrapping a firm hand around Peter’s back and one under his legs, lifting him with ease.  
“Tony it hurts,” Peter opens his eyes and cries out to Tony whose face screws up in equal pain and just clutches Peter tighter.  
“It’s gonna be ok Pete, I’ve got you. I’ve got you, just stay with me ok?”  
“Yeah…” Peter mutters, trailing off.  
Tony fires up his thrusters and is also yelling at FRIDAY to get Helen Cho, alert medical staff, call May, manage the Midtown Students, contact Kate-  
His voice rings in Peter’s ears. Peter wants to tell him to be quiet and let him sleep but every once in a while Tony’s yells cease and a soothing voice replaces it, murmuring encouragement to Peter who is trying his best to stay awake.  
“Peter stay with me please, I need you kid, please Pete-” Tony’s voice broke, “I love you kid, I can’t lose you. I can’t lose you son. Please…”  
Son...Peter thought, he called him son. Love you too dad, Peter tried to say, but his voice didn’t work. So Peter made a small whine of contempt and curled closer to the billionaire’s chest. Slowly, Tony’s voice faded, and Peter felt tears trickle down his cheeks. Everything was too loud. Pain was overriding his spider senses. He felt like his head would explode. He felt blood running down his arm and dripping off him in almost a current.  
And then...slowly, he didn’t feel it anymore. 

Peter gasped for breath and opened his eyes, trying to bolt up. There was an oxygen mask over his face and he scratched at it, ripping it off and breathing hard, panicking.  
The man with tired eyes and messy hair, an outfit that was wrinkled since it was 2 days old, and a stomach that was growling since it hadn’t gotten food in who knows how long, jerks awake as well in the chair to his right. Tony is on his feet, stumbling over and collapsing against the bed, his eyes wide and alert. He grips Peter’s hand and cups his head with a firm hand.  
“Hey, hey, breathe, Peter you’re ok. Breathe kid.”  
Peter’s just so happy to see him and lunges with his good arm and throws it around him, holding him tight and Tony wraps his arms around him, making sure he doesn’t jostle his shoulder. Peter’s warm against Tony’s chest and his head starts to dip within the hug, moving closer without even realizing. Tony combs a hand through his hair and Peter sighs contently, knowing he’s safe. It’s a while before they pull away from the embrace.  
“I almost lost you,” Tony says softly, cupping Peter’s cheek gently, his eyes worried and scared. Peter leans into the touch and smiles.  
“You didn’t,” he says quietly.  
Tony nods and pulls the chair he had been probably sleeping in closer to the bed after he texted Peter’s aunt. The billionaire shakes his head slightly as if to wake himself up.  
Peter blinks again, holding back a wince, and tries out his voice, which is slightly croaky.  
“What happened?”  
Tony gives him a look, “You jumped in front of me.”  
“I know that.”  
“Why?” Tony asked weakly.  
Peter knits his eyebrows, “Is that even a question? I heard the bullet. I tackled you. You would have died.”  
“You could have died!” Tony says.  
“But I didn’t,” Peter assures him.  
“But you could have,” Tony says through gritted teeth.  
“But I-” Peter starts to counter.  
Tony glares at him but somehow there’s no angry behind it. He just sighs and leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees.  
“Never, do that again,” he says firmly.  
Peter gives him a lopsided grin before he sighs, looking at his arm that has bandages wrapped around it.  
“Does it hurt?” Tony asks urgently.  
“Not too bad,” Peter fakes a smile. He would hide all the pain if it meant Tony not having to worry. He blinks again and this time his head slumps forward in exhaustion before he snaps awake again.  
“Tired?” Tony grins.  
Peter yawns, “Nope.”  
The billionaire stands up and comes over, rubbing Peter’s hair, “Do you need anything? I’ll let you sleep. May will be here when she’s done with work. You’ve got a couple hours.”  
“My class…” Peter mumbles, his eyes already starting to close, “The news? Are you in trouble? Who shot…”  
“It’s all taken care of, don’t worry about it. Just get better Pete,” Tony said softly, pulling the blanket over Peter who pulls it up to his chin with his good hand.  
“I love you dad,” Peter says quietly, half asleep.  
Tony smiles, “I love you too kid.” He starts to walk away but then Peter urges his voice to work one last time.  
“Tony can you stay?”  
Silence and Peter sleepily opens an eye to see if his mentor had already left. He hadn’t. He was already making his way back across the room and pulling up the chair.  
“Always,” Tony says. And then Peter falls asleep.


	2. I'm Sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New chapter, as promised! Shorter chap, i know, I'm sorry, but I felt like it was short and sweet <3 I'll try to make the next one longer. I'm so glad you all are loving the story though! Almost 1K hits in 2 days?!?!?! Thank you so much!  
> Enjoy this one <3 and stay tuned for 3!
> 
> During a nightmare, Tony hurts the one kid he can't live without, causing him to talk to Peter about his past and make sure the teen realizes how much he means to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony went through a lot :( so this is a slight WARNING for anyone susceptible to that kind of stuff such as anxiety attacks.  
> (Mentions of panic attacks and flashbacks that are not so good from his time held captive by the terrorist group.)

They forced his head underwater, a firm grip twisted in the locks of his wet hair. Tony opened his eyes under the murky water, trying to hold his mouth shut for as long as he could, kicking his legs and trying to twist his hands out of the grip of the two men. Eventually his tired jaw opens and the water seeped in, filling up his mouth as Tony screamed. He choked, gasping in water and choking again, not able to breathe, gagging and spazing as liquid trickled down the wrong pipe. His lungs felt like they were being set on fire and his whole body started to shake, his heartbeat elevating. Maybe they wouldn’t pull him out this time…  
Maybe this was it…  
Maybe he would finally die…  
And no one would know what had happened to him…  
Tony chokes on more water, desperately fighting against the 3 men holding him down. He finally can’t do it anymore and Tony stops fighting. His eyes start to close and he opens his mouth to take a breath. To seal his fate.  
Then suddenly the hand on his hair tightened and Tony felt his body be yanked back by his head. Tony curses, letting a few tears slip in with the water drenching down his face as they hold his head back. That had been too close. No. That had been perfect for them. They knew his breaking point. Water splashed everywhere and Tony gasped in a big breath, coughing up water and trying to gulp in oxygen he hadn’t had for...how many minutes? 1? 2? He didn’t know.  
Before he could think, or even take a breath to stabilize himself they shoved him under again. And again. And again. 8 more times before Tony swore to himself if they did it again he would purposely breathe in water. But as always, the men knew his breaking point and the water torture stopped.  
They dragged him over to the wall and chained his hands behind him. The first 2 like always didn’t know English so they shouted questions at him he couldn’t understand. With each wrong answer, which was every answer, he got another beating. It started with punches and kicks, and then got worse as they used different methods of torture. Cuts littered his body but they made sure that he didn’t bleed to death. When they knew he needed a while to rest because of his injuries and wounds they would go with mental, twisting his thoughts and asking him simple questions as if trying to break him. They forced him to work on math problems and build simple structures with bloodied and bruised hands and twisted fingers.  
The cave was cold and wet, and each night Tony was thrown into the same dark cell. He hated the dark. He hated this place. He should never have demoed his weapons. No one cared about him anyway. Was this even him talking? Or had they really gotten into his mind like they said they would…  
Each morning they would take him away despite his yells and kicks of protest. He would always fight them, no matter how many times they beat him, or how much pain he had to deal with because he didn’t go quietly, he always fought.  
Tony was shaking, in the corner of his tiny dark cell when the door opened. He blinked, almost whimpering from the sudden light and he flinched when he heard the footsteps getting closer.  
“No…” he moaned, yanking on the chains that were biting at the skin around his wrists, making them raw. He knew his wrists were bleeding and that struggling only made it worse, but Tony didn’t care. Pain was an old friend. The figure leaned at his side and gently touches his shoulder and Tony recoils, violently thrashing, kicking out of his legs...but his movements were getting sluggish. They had been for a while.  
“Tony,” said the figure, it was so dark he couldn’t see, but Tony glared as hard as he could at the man silhouetted in the light from the open door behind him.  
“No,” Tony said again and suddenly adrenaline surged through him and he was cursing, screaming, kicking his legs out and punching.  
"Tony!"  
“TONY!”

 

Tony bolts awake and reaches his hand out. An Iron Man suit crashes in through the door and harshly shoves someone back. He hears a slight surprised cry of pain as the figure goes flying across the room, hitting the ground and rolling to a stop by the wall. The Iron Man gauntlet attaches itself to Tony’s hand and he fires up the repulsor, not thinking, just aiming and firing.  
“Tony wait! No-”  
The blast heads for the figure who lets out a small yelp and ducks, falling on his back and scrambling backward, stopped by the corner.  
“Tony! It’s me! It’s me! Stop!”  
Tony’s breathing hard and he falls back onto his bed- wait, his...  
Tony blinks, letting out a strangled gasp. The sheets are twisted around his legs. The door is open, light coming into the room- his room- from the hall. The repulsor is ready to fire, recharged from his last shot and Tony follows it’s line of fire to see a scared teenager, one arm out with two fingers very, very close to his palm, resting his body weight on his elbow. He hadn’t had time to get off his back. He stared at Tony with wide fearful eyes and a chest that’s rising and falling faster than even his.  
“Peter…” Tony chokes, immediately lowering his arm and ripping off the Iron man gauntlet. The suit that was by Tony’s side- the suit that had smacked the boy halfway across the room- does the same and Tony’s already self destructing it. The suit crumples into a pile of parts and falls to a floor. Tony scrambles off his bed, and lunges for his kid who’s backed into a corner. He almost falls on his face as he does, kicking the sheets that are entwined in his legs and practically dives to his knees in front of the boy. Tony reaches out, and then sees Peter flinch for a second. Tony recoils, horrified with himself. Why wouldn’t Peter be scared of him? He just nearly took his head off with a blast from his Iron Man suit, after he threw him across the room.  
“Tony?” Peter asks nervously, still unsure, his brown eyes tense and alert, the hairs on his body standing straight up from his spider senses.  
God, what had he done?  
Tony feels a lump in his throat and a massive knot in his stomach, “Yeah kid,” he says weakly, desperately wanting to just hold his kid. But who knows if Peter wants to? Who knows if he’d ever want to again…  
His chest tightens with guilt, “yeah it’s me Pete. I’m sorry. I’m so-”  
Peter lunges forward, and Tony tenses, unsure if the kid’s gonna punch him in the face or-  
Peter wraps his arms around him, curling up against his chest. Tony collapses with him, hugging him hard, bringing him closer, protecting him, promising to never let this happen again. He would never sleep again if that’s what it took.  
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Peter,” Tony says quietly.  
“It wasn’t your fault,” Peter responds, tightening his hold around Tony.  
Tony holds him closer. He was supposed to protect this kid...not let him get hurt...  
And somehow Peter still says it’s not his fault.  
“Yes it is Pete, yes it is,” He runs a hand through Peter’s curls, the kid pressed against his chest, still shaking. Tony rests his chin on Peter’s head and holds him, murmuring apologizes. Between Rhodey, Peter, and Pepper, Tony rarely apologized.  
“Are you ok?” Peter asks, his voice muffled as he asks against Tony’s chest. Is he ok? is HE ok? What's this kid's deal? He just got knocked halfway across the-  
“Shut up Parker,” Tony demands as nice as he can. Peter seems to understand what he means and just melts further into the embrace. They don’t speak for a while after that. Tony thinks Peter falls asleep at one point; the kid’s breathing has finally slowed down and he goes slightly heavy against Tony who doesn’t even care that his back aches from the awkward position on the floor.  
Then Peter jerks his head up and Tony recoils, afraid he’s hurt him, afraid he’s done something wrong. He moves his hands to hover over Peter’s shoulders, locking worried eyes with him.  
But as soon as Peter had moved away, he moves back, making up for the loss of contact by grabbing Tony’s shoulders instead, “Tony your- your shaking…”  
Tony’s always shaking. He figures Peter will notice more now that he has once. He gives the kid a weak smile and helps him stand.  
“I’m ok kid. I promise. Are you ok? Did I hurt you?” Tony holds Peter out shoulder length and looks him over, seeing no visible injuries.  
“No, I’m fine,” Peter insists, but there’s something edgy in his voice, like he’s only saying that to protect Tony.  
“Pete,” Tony growls, glaring at him with no true anger.  
“My ribs,” Peter admits, “but they’ll heal it’s ok, i swear-”  
Tony just brushes them gently and Peter sucks in a breath, letting out a strangled whimper that he turns into a fake laugh. A clearly plastered smile appears on his face when Tony looks up guiltily, “See? Fine.”  
“Med lab. Now. You need ice,” Tony demands.  
Peter protests, “Tony just go back to sleep. I’ll be fine.”  
“I’m not sleeping for at least a week Parker. So mine as well get ice,” Tony says, practically dragging him out the door.  
“How bad is it?” Tony asks as they walk down the hallway. He sees Peter’s hand itching to go up to grasp his chest, but the kid looks at him guiltily, as if knowing that will make Tony feel worse, and decides against it. His arm stays down at his side, picking a fray in his Stark Internships shirt he had worn to bed.  
“Not bad,” Peter shrugs nonchalantly.  
“Do I need to ask FRIDAY or will you just tell me?” Tony sighs.  
Peter looks at him slightly annoyed. He knows FRIDAY won’t leave anything out, down to a paper cut.  
“I think I broke one. Just one. The rest are just bruised,” he says unconvincingly.  
Just one, Tony hears again in his head. Just one.  
When Peter locks eyes and sees Tony’s horrified and guilt racked expression he quickly adds, “they’ll be fine in the morning I swear.”  
“Promise?” Tony raises a knowing eyebrow. He knew Peter couldn’t break a promise with him; they both had sworn to tell the truth if prompted.  
Peter scowled and let out an annoyed whine before he sighed and spluttered, “Ok well- no- but they’ll just be a bit sore-”  
Tony stopped in the middle of the hallway and moved in front of Peter, locking eyes with him. The brown eyes looking up at him don’t have hatred, or anger, or maybe he’s just too good at hiding it. He barely sees pain through Peter’s lopsided grin but he’s positive that’s there. Why did this kid admire him so much? Heck, Peter had basically become his son...and Tony was trying so hard to do his best to look after the kid. He made so many mistakes but it was like Peter refused to see them.  
“Peter don’t try and make this seem ok. I hurt you and I’m sorry. I promise it won’t- it will never happen again. If you’re mad at me, or hurt, or you want to go home or something- I don’t know, you need to tell me-”  
Peter lets out a low laugh, “Mad? Tony, I’m fine.”  
“Peter,” Tony warns.  
“I promise I’m ok,” Peter pulls Tony along and they start walking again before he continues, “I mean I will be by tomorrow. I don’t want to go anywhere. I want to stay here. And I’m not mad at you at all. It wasn’t your fault,” Peter protests, actually holding up a hand to cut Tony off as he tries to argue it was.  
“When I had my nightmare and you tried to wake me up, I punched you in the face. Black eye for a week. And I felt bad then too. So I know you feel bad but I promise you it’s ok Tony. Really,” Peter said sincerely.  
Tony nods, “yeah except you punched me. I shot at you with a repulsor. There’s a difference!”  
Peter grins, “I had a blast. Get it?” Peter wiggles his eyebrows at his joke.  
Tony scowls, “not funny.”  
“Sorry,” Peter says, still smirking.  
“No don’t say sorry. I’m the one who should be apologizing,” Tony says as they reach the med lab.  
Peter sighs and sits down on one of the benches, knowing he’s not going to gain anything by arguing; Tony’s set. He had to give him this. Tony grabs him an ice pack and watches as Peter gingerly places it against his ribs, wincing slightly before giving him a forced grin. Tony glares at him and Peter sighs, letting himself flinch at the cold. Tony hated when Peter hid things from him. "Why didn't you web me?" Tony asked then, remembering Peter's outstretched hand. He could have disarmed him in an instant. He was beginning to think that Peter slept with those things on. "i just...didn't want to," Peter shrugged. "You've webbed me to a door," Tony said, "and that was when I was going to tell your Aunt your secret that she knows now. And you didn't even know me. Now, I just shot at you with a repulsor and you don't web me? Get your priorities straight kid." He's only half joking. Peter looks uncomfortable and he shifts his weight while sitting, biting his lip, "I didn't want to hurt you." "Yeah well I hurt you," Tony said angrily. He rubbed his hand with his face.  
“I can feel it healing,” Peter says helpfully.  
Tony raises an eyebrow and nods, waving to the kid, “If it’s just bruised, you keep that on it for the next 20 minutes understand? Let’s get ice cream.”  
Peter nods happily and jumps up, immediately clutching his still healing ribs, “Ow.”  
Tony shakes his head and puts his arm around him. Together they walk to the kitchen and Tony grabs some ice cream. At first they sit in silence, sitting next to each other at the bar. Tony looks over at Peter who’s already finished his first helping.  
“Tony?” Peter then asks, breaking the silence.  
“Yeah kid?” Tony asks, setting down his spoon.  
The kid looks uncomfortable, wringing his hands and pushing the ice cream around his bowl so much it starts to melt. Tony waits, not wanting to pry and Peter finally speaks, his voice soft.  
“Why don’t you tell me you have nightmares?” Peter asked.  
Tony sighs, “I have them every night kid.”  
Peter looks up at him with wide eyes and he chokes on a gasp, pain filling his gaze, “Every night?”  
“That’s why I don’t sleep. Peter don’t worry. I’m used to it. I can handle it.”  
Peter looks down, “Yeah...well you shouldn’t.”  
Tony puts an arm around Peter and clasps his opposite shoulder, “Hey, it’s ok. It’s just...once in a while that happens. I have to talk to FRIDAY about waking me up. Usually Pepper does but you know she’s on the trip this week so…” Tony’s hand falls off of Peter’s shoulder and doesn’t notice the kid sad expression caused by the loss of the half hug.  
“Is it...are they flashbacks from when you were kidnapped?” Peter asks slowly.  
Tony nods and clears his throat, “Yep.”  
Peter takes this as uncomfort and he quickly tries to backtrack, babbling, “Sorry. If you don’t want to-”  
“It’s ok,” Tony assures him, “I’ll be fine. I just can’t have you hurt Pete. Especially not by my doing.”  
They’re silent for a second. Tony knows Peter wants to ask what happened, but doesn’t feel it’s the right time to. So Tony goes ahead and talks.  
“For 3 months I was stuck in that cave. I was almost always stuck in a room, tied to a chair or chained to a wall. Everything was dark. I barely got glimpses of sunlight. The first month was strictly torture, sending videos back to the US of ransom, and each time I told them not to pay it. When they weren’t holding my head underwater, or using me as a punching bag,” Tony smirked, and saw Peter grimace.  
It was the only way he would describe that torture in front of the kid, who knew what he meant. So Tony left it at that, continuing nervously, “yeah...they weren’t too good at operation that’s for sure.”  
He laughed with no humor and noticed Peter’s fists were clenched so hard his knuckles were white and his hand was shaking. Tony quickly moved on.  
“They forced me to work on math and science problems. Mechanics...anything they could give me to see if it was true. Could I build weapons? Yes. I could. So then they sent me to build for them, and I spent more hours working then I ever had in my life. Not much food, no sleep, enough water to keep me alive. Just me and Yinsen, a man stuck there too. And that’s how we built the first Iron Man- disguised it as a rocket,” Tony said thoughtfully, remembering how ingenious they had been.  
“Our captors were good at punching, but not too smart… Anyway, I made it out. Yinsen...Yinsen didn’t,” Tony winced, having another flashback. He rubbed his head and fumbled with his words, “He told me no to waste my life, which is why I improved the suit and made it to help people…and the rest...the rest you know kid.”  
“I’m so sorry,” Peter said softly.  
“Hey, it’s not your fault. I’m ok. Peter look at me,” Tony said, turning the kid so he faced him. He made Peter unclench his fists and looked him straight in the eyes, “if that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have met you. Or maybe even Pepper. The Avengers wouldn’t exist. And I wouldn’t be the man I am today. Everything happens for a reason. I’m here, now. And I’m ok.”  
Peter nods slowly, taking in everything that Tony had just said.  
Then Tony splutters, “Hold on, how did we get to worrying about me after I backhanded you across the room?”  
“The suit did it,” Peter pointed out.  
“I am Iron Man,” Tony shot back, making Peter smile a bit, “I did it.”  
“Well it doesn’t hurt,” Peter said, eating another spoonful of chocolate ice cream.  
“Really?” Tony asked. Peter nodded, smiling.  
“So if we had sparring practice right now-” Tony suggests.  
Peter almost chokes on his bite of ice cream, “Ok it hurts a bit.”  
“That’s what I thought,” Tony said smugly, getting up to shove his bowl in the sink. He turns back around, “Star Wars for 20 minutes so you can have that ice on?”  
Peter’s mouth is full but he nods eagerly.  
Tony grins and makes his way around the table, putting in Peter’s favorite- Empire Strikes Back, and settling down on the couch. Peter scarfs down the rest of his ice cream and puts it in the sink on top of Tony’s before he walks over and sits down next to him. Tony moves his arm so Peter can duck under. This became a habit after the many movie nights they had. Tony rests his arm over Peter’s shoulder and they watch the movie.  
20 minutes later, the ice pack, now thawed out, slid off of Peter’s ribs and onto the couch. Tony turned to tell him to put it back in the freezer, but he turned his head into a mop of messy hair; Peter had fallen asleep on his shoulder. Tony smiled and pulled the kid closer so he wouldn’t hurt his neck from the awkward position and Peter melted into his side. Tony grabbed a blanket from the side of the couch, stretching out his arm so not to disturb the sleeping teen. He draped the warm blanket over the kid and got comfortable. He’d stay here until the movie was over and then he’d try and get Peter back to his room.  
He never made it to the end of the movie. Tony fell asleep, slumped against Peter, his arm still protectively around him, not caring that it would be sore, and not caring that he wasn’t comfortable, and not caring that he had put the entire blanket over the teenager and didn’t get anything from himself. He just fell asleep.  
And he didn’t have nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was it? Comment your thoughts below, add suggestions to add for next chapters, and don't forget to leave kudos!  
> Stay tuned and thanks for reading :)


	3. Empire State Building

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> if ANYTHING happens to Tony, they'll answer to Peter. If ANYONE hurts Tony, they'll answer to Peter. And right on time, Team Cap comes knocking, and at it's head, the man who left Tony bleeding and alone on Siberia all those months ago. Maybe Tony has forgiven him, but Peter hasn't. And turns out Cap hasn't forgiven himself either, which makes being mad at him so much harder for Peter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gotta love this one... also I feel like every Tony and Peter fight never really escalates lol and if it does it just has an even better resolution. Anyway, it's a good chapter I think. Simple but powerful. <3

Peter walked into the compound and ran up the stairs. He reached the labs and expected to see Tony where he usually was: hunched over with his back turned in either one of his black sabbath shirts, a stark industries shirt of some sort, blue and white long sleeves, or a welding tank top if he had been doing some massive repairs.  
Either way he was always in the labs, and he would turn around and lift his glasses, grinning at Peter as he crossed the room to stand next to him, dropping his backpack by the door. Tony would ruffle his hair and explain what he was doing and then start a conversation about school and work and Spiderman stuff.  
So Peter was shocked when Tony wasn’t in the labs. He did a double check to make sure he hadn’t just gone to another part of the massive room, but he was right. Peter frowned, his spider senses alert and he called out.  
“Hey FRIDAY? Where’s Tony?”  
“Hello Peter. Tony’s on a conference call right now.”  
Peter breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, hefting his backpack and walking back towards the door, “Which room?”  
“2B.”  
“Thanks,” Peter said. He left the labs and walked down the hall, heading for the stairs, deciding not to use the elevator. The sunlight glare on the wall from the glass windows by the entrance. Peter bounded up and walked briskly down the hallway. He skidded to a stop by the conference room and peaked through the half open door.  
Tony was talking all right, but Peter’s brow furrowed. The main line phone and Tony’s cell phone were flat on the table, and he didn’t have his headset on. Then what phone was he-  
Tony turned in his chair nonchalauntly, not seeing Peter yet, and he caught glimpse of an old flip phone pressed against the billionaire’s ear. Peter knit his brow and slowly opened the door. It creaked a bit and Tony instantly turned, relaxing when he realized it was just Peter. He motioned for him to take a seat, in his normal spot at his side and Peter obliged, being respectfully quiet as Tony finished his call. Peter looked down at his phone, moving his fingers and tapping a blank screen as if to appear busy. They both knew he was listening in though.  
“We’ll talk when I’ve figured it out,” Tony said, rubbing his goatee thoughtfully, “No I haven’t thought about it yet. Well yeah, Steve, I built it for everyone, there’s room.”  
Peter froze, and Tony saw him tense, his gaze flicking to him nervously.  
Steve... Steve, Captain America Steve?  
Steve, Captain America Steve Rogers?  
Steve, left you to die in Siberia beaten half to death Captain America Steve Rogers, Peter thought angrily, his fists clenching.  
Tony winced at Peter’s body language and gave him a hopeful and reassuring gaze. Peter nodded slowly.  
“Yeah. Next Wednesday it is,” Tony wrote something down on a pad of paper in front of him, “Yeah. Don’t thank me, you know Ross is making me do this.”  
Peter figured Steve had thanked him. He figured Tony to be serious that he wasn’t doing this for Cap and that Ross had actually made him do it, but he somehow heard some teasing in Tony’s tone, which surprised him. There was a low laugh of the other line.  
Tony grinned, “No. He’s a jerk. Yeah. Ok. And seriously, what’s with the flip phone? Old man.”  
Peter watched in awe and partial horror as Tony spoke to his old best friend so calmly and with such ease and happiness. He does know this is the same person who left him to die on that snowy slope in Siberia, right?  
Peter still remembers he and Pepper helping him limp up the stairs into the room. It was the most hurt Peter had ever seen Tony, bleeding profusely, and beaten to a pulp, an inch from death. The cries Tony let out still haunt Peter’s nightmares every so often.  
He had sworn he would kill Captain America if he ever came within 50 feet of Tony again, and he had always figured Tony felt the same way. The billionaire didn’t like to talk about what happened, and they never really had.  
After Tony recovered he had given Peter a hug- a hug, not a door grab- and they had just moved on. At least Tony had. Peter hadn’t.  
Tony had gone quiet and Peter watched him sigh deeply, before he lowered his head, “Me too.”  
Without even hearing the phone call, Peter knew they had both apologized. He frowned. Maybe Steve had earned Tony’s forgiveness over the phone, but he would have to do a lot more to earn Peter’s.  
Tony said a few more things and then said goodbye.  
“Talk later. Yeah, take care,” and then Tony shut the phone and set it down.  
“That was Cap wasn’t it? Steve?” Peter said slowly.  
Tony met his gaze and shook his head, “Steve Martin.”  
“Funny,” Peter grumbled. Then he asked quietly, “Why are you talking to him?”  
Tony turned his chair towards Peter and then started to stand up, snapping out of his more serious and sober tone, grinning, “How about we talk about this later, we can work on suits first-”  
“No.” Peter’s voice was firm and he looked up weakly at Tony, “I’m apart of this just as you are. I was at the airport. And this is my home too. I deserve to know.”  
Tony sighed and sat back down, rubbing his face with his hands before glancing at Peter apologetically, “Yeah you do kid, I’m sorry.”  
When Peter said nothing, just prompted him with his eyes, Tony continued.  
“The International governments decided it was time for Team Cap to come out of the shadows. Once we alter the accords they will be able- we will be able to form a reconstructed Avengers program, with more freedom. But until they do, they need a place to stay and Ross and the other members of the Council have agreed it’s safest if they stay here. We have enough room, so I agreed.” When Tony was done he stayed still, his eyes searching Peter with concern, looking for signs of emotion.  
Peter looked up and nodded, “Ok. And you’re ok with that? After everything that’s happened.”  
Tony sighed, “To be honest, I don’t know. But think Steve and I both know that in order to make this work we have to put aside some things.”  
“Some things? He left you to die Tony,” Peter said angrily.  
Tony shot him a look, “We both made mistakes. It wasn’t Steve’s fault.”  
“His fault? He went away with a couple cuts and bruises. You were nearly beaten to death. He disregarded his rules, his team, his family. For his best friend. Well you were his best friend too once, weren’t you?”  
“Friend have fall outs. Are you telling me that you and Ned never got into a fist fight?”  
“No. I’m saying that Ned never stabbed a shield through my chest and left me to bleed out on an uninhabited part of Russia in the middle of a snowstorm,” Peter crossed his arms.  
“You don’t know what happened,” Tony shook his head.  
“I don’t care!” Peter shouted, getting to his feet, “Don’t defend him!”  
“I’m not defending him!” Tony shot back, also standing, his eyes flashing. He gave Peter a glare to back down, “You don’t know kid. You have no idea. There’s a bigger picture here. Stop messing with things you don’t understand.”  
“Messing with things-” Peter laughed with no humor, and it sounded a lot like how Tony sarcastically laughed, “I’m apart of this. You brought me to Germany. I got kicked into a jet bridge and had it fall on me. I know how hard he hits. He wasn’t pulling his punches.”  
“Peter, stop,” Tony said. His voice had gotten quieter, “I’m not perfect. I make mistakes too you know,” Tony said.  
Peter knew what the soft voice meant. Most people would figure it meant Tony didn’t want to fight, and that he was lowering his tone too end the conversation. Peter knew Tony better than that. He would snap soon, if Peter kept pushing. Peter kept pushing.  
“You’re closer than Cap is to perfect, or ever will be,” Peter said, balling his fists.  
“Peter-” Tony warned.  
Peter wasn’t done. “And I hate that. I hate that you can just forget about it and act like everything’s ok.”  
“Why can’t you?” Tony shouted.  
“What?” Peter said through gritted teeth.  
“Why do u care so much?” Tony yelled. He shouted the simple question at the top of his lungs. There was the snap. His eyes flashed and on any other day Peter would have backed down. He hadn’t seen them flash in a while.  
Peter stared at him. Why did he care?  
“Because it’s you,” Peter said softly, “and I have to protect you too ya know when you’re not in your suit of armor, or when someone tries to stab a freaking shield in the center of it. And because I don’t think you remember, but I got a call at 11 at night from Pepper. I had to come to compound and help her carry you to the lab because she wasn’t strong enough and didn’t know how to unlock the suit since it was out of power. I was the one who had to make the call to Helen Cho and tell her to hurry and get over to the compound because the closest thing I’ll ever have to a father was bleeding out in front of me and screaming at the pain,” Peter felt tears come to his eyes and blink them away.  
“That’s why,” Peter said softly. All his energy left him and he was suddenly shrinking down, breathing out a shaky sigh.  
Tony was silent, staring at him. Then he finally stepped forward with a harsh, “Come here.”  
Tony pulled Peter to his chest by his shoulders and Peter gripped him hard, glad he was ok, glad he was safe, glad he was here, now. Tony hugged him hard, wrapping his arms around him, one hand on the back of Peter’s head. When they broke away from the embrace, Tony had his hands on Peter’s shoulders and he locked eyes with him.  
“They need to stay here for a while. I know you don’t like it. But doesn’t everyone deserve a second chance?” When Peter nodded slowly, he continued,  
“Right. I need you to promise me you won’t kill him the minute he walks in?” Tony asked, squeezing Peter’s shoulder. He was only half kidding.  
Peter grinned and slowly nodded, “Fine.”  
Tony ruffled his hair and grinned, grabbing his stuff and nodding towards the door, “Let’s go work on the suits.”

 

It was Wednesday. Peter got a ride to the compound and walked upstairs. He heard some talking near the common room and peaked his head around the corner. Hollllyyyy crap.  
Steve, Black Widow, the Falcon, the Winter Soldier, Scarlet Witch and Vision were all lounging on the couches and chairs. Mixed emotions spiralled into Peter and he slowly stepped back, wanting to duck away before was noticed. Before he could though, the Falcon- Sam right?- caught his eye and knit his brow.  
“Who are you?” Sam asked.  
Peter clenched his fists and tried his best not to glare at him, “I’m Peter. What are you doing here?”  
Natasha, who Peter guess had been showing them around, seemed a little surprised, and she narrowed her eyes like she was trying to remember if she had seen him somewhere. Vision was just observing. The Winter Soldier had eyes that were practically staring into Peter’s soul so he avoided eye contact. Scarlet Witch had always been sweet- she didn’t want to hurt anyone and she hadn’t really fought with Peter at all at the airport so he lessened his gaze when it got to her. The only person left was Steve. And Peter glared his heart out him. Problem was, Steve was looking at him with amusement, his arms crossed with a smirk on his face, as if he was internally laughing like Peter was funny when he was pissed.  
“More importantly, what are you doing here. This is a secure compound you know,” the Falcon said darkly.  
Peter almost laughed. What, did they think he was trespassing? This was his home.  
“I know. I have clearance,” he shot back.  
“Do you work here?” Steve asked calmly.  
“I intern,” Peter said simply.  
“I didn’t think Tony hired interns,” the Falcon whispered to Steve.  
“He doesn’t,” Steve whispered back.  
“I can hear you,” said Peter, glaring at the both of them.  
They both looked slightly surprised at why this kid either A, could hear them in their harsh whispers, or B, why he wasn’t falling down on both knees asking for their autographs. Yeah well say hello to Peter Parker.  
“So you’re staying here now, right? Tony told me,” Peter grumbled.  
“Tony?” Scarlet Witch spoke up.  
“You on a first name basis with the guy?” Natasha raised her eyebrows.  
“Well he doesn’t like being called Anthony,” Peter snapped.  
Steve’s smile got bigger and Natasha smirked at Peter’s feistiness.  
“I like him,” Steve said suddenly, standing up and walking over to Peter. He stuck out his hand and inside Peter was screaming. This was Captain America, asking to shake his hand. The person he had idolized as a kid, holding out his hand to him. He was also the one person he wanted to piss off, was the only one generally thrilled with him right now. And Peter had no choice but to shake his hand.  
Steve jerked as Peter clasped his hand firmly, letting out a low laugh, “Heck of a grip.”  
Peter let go and nodded, stepping back slightly; he was a bit intimidated by Cap’s big frame and wide shoulders.  
“I feel like we’ve met before,” Natasha suddenly said, “Because even the voice-”  
Peter froze. And then he heard the door open behind him.  
“Pete there- oh. Ok, well you met,” Tony said slowly, walking up behind Peter and putting an arm over his shoulder. It’s like the other Avengers had forgotten Tony was capable of showing affection because they all stared at the man who had his arm around the boy. Peter moved a little closer to him as Tony tried to lighten the mood.  
“Well no black eyes. Nothing’s broken. That’s a good sign,” Tony grinned.  
The Avengers chuckled, but Peter knew Tony had been referencing Peter not killing anyone, particularly Cap.  
Steve grinned, “Peter’s got fire.”  
“I know he does,” Tony said, before he turned Peter by his shoulders and started walking away with him.  
“Nice to meet you Peter. We’ll see you around,” Steve said, making Peter tense in Tony’s comforting grip. The door closed but Peter could still hear them talking.  
“I swear I know the kid,” Natasha said.  
“He’s got a mouth,” Sam muttered.  
“I like him.” That was Steve. Captain America, Steve Rogers. If Tony hadn’t been steering him away with a protective arm around his shoulders, Peter would have gone right back in there and punched him in his perfect teeth. 

 

Peter was told not to come. Profusely. By Tony. So what did he do? He came. He flipped in and landed, cutting off Tony who was talking to the team, about to start a training exercise.  
“Hey everyone,” he said, standing up and taking his place at Tony’s side.  
“P-” Tony caught himself, glaring at Peter because his helmet wasn’t on yet, “I said don’t come.”  
“I know. I don’t listen,” Peter said, before glancing around the circle of shocked faces.  
He gave Steve a sarcastic salute, “Cap, captain, spiderman.”  
“Queens,” Steve grinned.  
“Brooklyn,” Peter growled.  
“He’s got heart,” Steve said to Tony.  
“Yeah, I know,” Tony grumbled, before shooting Peter one last look. He then clasped his hands, “Ok everyone. Try not to kill each other, this is just practice. Spiderman, yeah, pull your punches. Please?”  
Falcon laughed, “You want him to pull his punches? I dropped him out of a window.”  
Tony’s gaze darkened but before he could say anything, Peter had a retort ready.  
“Yeah after I webbed you and metal arm over there to the ground,” he snarled.  
“Kid,” Tony warned.  
“Sorry,” Peter grumbled.  
“Kid?” Falcon had caught that, “how old is he?”  
“Doesn’t matter,” Tony tried to brush it off.  
“Did I hurt a kid?” Steve looked actually worried, and that made Peter angry...somehow. Did he actually care? No.  
“I’m not a kid,” Peter defended himself, “and you’re 100, are we really going to discuss age?”  
Tony actually laughed out loud and everyone snapped toward him, smirking slightly at the grin on Iron Man’s face. Tony laughed again, mostly to himself and then the helmet shut, “And that’s our cue to go. Every man for himself.” And then he blasted off.  
Peter’s senses dialed to 11 and he swung himself up, immediately webbing Falcon’s pack as he tried to lift off. Sam dropped, and Peter shot a web so he wouldn’t hit the ground. Rhodey, who flew by, cut him down, letting him drop the last two feet while laughing.  
Peter was climbing on the scaffolding and he dropped behind one of the fake conex containers set up.  
“Peter?” asked someone behind him.  
Not thinking, Peter turned, “Yeah?”  
Natasha grinned. Peter’s face fell and he blocked her punch, grabbing her arm and twisting. She flipped him and he lashed out and caught her leg, bringing himself down on top of her. She spun around, and they locked limbs, straining for a moment. Neither were trying to their full capacity.  
“I won’t tell don’t worry,” she laughed.  
“Mhm,” Peter said, unsure of what to say to Black Widow, who had just found out his identity.  
“What do you have against Cap?” she asked.  
That got Peter angry and he shot a web at her face, spinning and doing a flip, coming back down with a foot to the back of her knee, sending her sprawling. It wasn’t a fair play, since they had been talking but Natasha didn’t seem to mind. She got up, grinning at him.  
“He hurt Tony,” Peter’s choked on his own anger, his face screwed up underneath the mask.  
“Yeah, he did,” Nat said, her voice sobering, and her grin melting away.  
“So why wouldn’t I have something against him?” Peter snarls, “He left my dad there to die.”  
“You’re right kid,” Nat said, “I’ll try a new roundhouse kick on him in sparring just for you ok?”  
“T-thanks,” Peter stuttered.  
Then Natasha cocked her head, “Don’t you think friends deserve second chances though?”  
Peter rolled his eyes. Second chances again. He shook his head, backed up, and shot a web at the scaffolding, calling out, “Friends? Friends don’t do that.”  
He left Natasha on the ground.  
A couple minutes later Peter finally got Cap alone, blocking his path as he went running after Tony who had flown away after exploding a few of the crates Steve had taken cover behind. When Steve threw his shield, headed straight for Tony’s back, Peter caught it and landed on one knee, getting slowly to his feet.  
“Hey Que-” Cap started, before he was forced to absorb his shield being thrown at him, God knows how hard. He caught it all right, but he was winded and Peter went for his legs then. With one quick tug they were out from under them and Cap was flat on his back.  
“Tony told me to go to for your legs,” Peter called.  
Steve groaned and got up, holding his shield out in front of him, “He knows me pretty well.”  
“He thought he did,” Peter said angrily.  
Cap lowered the shield, his brow furrowing. The look that came over Cap’s face was pure regret and guilt. Peter almost staggered when he saw it. It was the look of admittance, or remorse, and sincere and utter apologeticness. Peter turned and swung to the door of the training room, and walked out. 

Peter changed out of his suit and into jeans and a stark industries shirt and jacket in the bathroom of the conference room and shoved it in his bag. He had just taken off his mask and closed his backpack just in time because suddenly Cap came barreling in. His gaze fell on Peter and he looked confused.  
“I could have sworn that he came in here…” Steve muttered under his breath.  
“Spiderman?” Peter guessed.  
Cap looked surprised, “Yeah. Was he here?”  
“Yeah. He doesn’t really...like you much,” Peter admitted.  
Steve knit his perfect eyebrows and walked over to the table Peter had been leaning against while hefting his backpack.  
“Any idea why?” Cap prompted.  
Peter nodded thoughtfully, “He’s really close to Tony. So when you got away free, after starting this whole thing, and Tony came back with near hypothermia, internal bleeding, broken ribs, all that fun stuff, basically almost beaten to death, he was pissed.”  
“Oh,” Steve said quietly. He sat down. Then he looked up at Peter. “Do you know what happened.”  
“I know Tony’s side. I would like to hear yours,” Peter said. Truth be told, he didn’t know. But he wanted to.  
“I got carried away. If I had listened to Tony it wouldn’t have happened. None of it. Not the airport fight, not the division, not the civil war, not the anger, not the hate… I was just so worried about losing Bucky- I had lost everyone. When I went under the ice, I left everyone behind. And when I came out, Tony and I always butted heads, but I found a friend in him. Then I found out Bucky was alive and I figured Tony would support me. He went for the good of the team, I went for what I thought was right. We will always disagree on how it should have gone down, and truth be told, I still think he’s wrong. But we were both wrong at how we handled it. It wasn’t supposed to happen like that. Then in Siberia, when he found out Bucky had been the cause of his parents death-” Steve shook his head.  
Peter had to hide a gasp, his eyes going wide. Thank God Steve’s head was bowed or he would have been busted.  
“I should have told him the minute I knew. The video was meant to turn us against each other and it did. And I fought to protect my friend, hurting another one in the process. I was so angry, so caught up in the moment…”  
“You nearly killed him,” Peter hissed.  
“I know. And he has every right to be mad. Heck, I'm surprised he's forgiven me. I wouldn't have. I...still haven't forgiven myself."  
Peter froze. He hadn't expected that. His mind didn't know what to think. But now Steve was still talking and Peter's thoughts were swirling away.  
"I was surprised that he even allowed us back here. He’s probably faking it. Ross has a hand in everything now.”  
“No,” Peter said softly, “He means it. He built this place for you guys. He spends hours tirelessly trying to lift the ban on you all. He was the one who presented the deal for Clint and Scott. He hasn’t slept more than 4 hours this week trying to get Bucky’s war crimes pardoned.”  
“How do you know all this?” Steve asks suspiciously.  
Peter sighs, “It’s a long story.”  
Steve nods and gets up, “Well, thanks Peter.”  
“Yep,” Peter nods. Steve reaches for the door.  
“I’ll get it,” Peter calls, halfway across the table. He shoots a web from his web shooter and tugs. The door opens and the look on Steve’s face is priceless. He looks at the web, and then back at Peter, and then the web, and then his backpack.  
“Queens?” He points at Peter.  
“Brooklyn,” Peter nods, pointing back at Steve.  
“You,” Steve can’t believe it. His jaw is dropped, but there’s a smile creeping up. Everything’s clicking into place right now and Peter just lets it happen.  
“Yep,” he says.  
“Wow,” Steve shook his head, “unbelievable.”  
“Believe it Cap,” Peter said dryly, not able to hide some leftover resentment in his voice. "I..." Cap's eyes widen even more, "I hurt you! Did I hurt you? I dropped the bridge on you-" Peter raised an eyebrow, "I had a warehouse fall on me after that so it's fine." Peter waved him off. Cap knew not to ask. "Well," he said, twiddling his thumbs.  
Steve seemed to understand. He clasps his hands, “Well Nat wants to spar with me, so I- I should go…”  
And he leaves it at that. Cap he nods, once to himself, and once at Peter, before he stares to walk out the open door. He gets about a foot out before Peter splutters on his words to call him back, hesitating as he’s unsure what to call him.  
“Mr. Rog- Cap-?” Peter finally turned, and Cap who was about to walk out the door, came back in and faced the kid.  
“Steve,” Cap said plainly.  
“What?” Peter knit his brow.  
“Call me Steve,” the man said, giving him a smile.  
“Ok. Steve,” Peter tested out the new name on his tongue. It felt weird calling Captain America by his first name, but Peter had just done it. Peter realized he had been nodding a bit, just realizing the informal introduction he had just performed before he remembered what he was going to say.  
“You hurt Tony again and I’ll kick you off the Empire State Building,” Peter said firmly, his gaze solid. "Don't try me."  
Steve couldn’t tell if Peter was joking or not, and frankly, he didn’t even know if he was. But he had made his point clear. If Cap so much as even scratched Tony…  
“Noted,” Steve said, grinning nervously. Peter nodded, and then before he even knew what he was doing, his fist was curled, and he punched Cap right across the face. Steve stumbled, more from shock and force, but it still felt good to make Captain America stagger. Steve regained his composure and stared at Peter in shock. "You deserve more than just a punch," Peter said simply, "but I'm not the one to give it to you." Steve's gaze grows cold for a couple seconds but then his expression crumples and the anger leaves his eyes. There was a moment of tense understanding between the two and Peter didn't lessen his glare. Then figuring the conversation was over, and before Peter punched again, Steve walked away again, but just before he exited, Peter said one more thing.  
“By the way, Nat’s planning on using a new roundhouse kick by the way. I just thought you should know” Peter said.  
Why had he told him? Peter appreciated Cap’s apology, and knew it was somewhat sincere. He had owned up to his mistakes, realized where he was wrong, and was trying to be better, to make amends. By doing that, he had gained a sliver of respect from Peter. Did he hate him still? Yes. Did he want to punch him again? Oh, Peter wanted to kill him. But second chances were possible and like he said, it was Tony's place to blow him to yesterday. That being said, if Cap tried anything or made one more mistake, well, Peter wasn't kidding about the whole Empire State Building thing. And he would never pull his punches during training.  
“Thanks kid,” Steve said simply, and he was gone.

Tony and Peter met up in the labs with the rest of the team after the whole training exercise was over. Without even thinking, Tony walked by Peter and ruffled his hair, before they bent down to work on their suits. Tony and Peter didn’t notice; it was a natural gesture for them, but the rest of the team exchanged confused looks.  
An hour later, Nat came in rubbing her side, mumbling something about how it didn’t work. Steve walked in after her and his gaze found Peter who was standing next to Tony at a counter, helping him with the Iron Man suit. Steve gave him a small smirk. Tony looked up to see the two of them slightly better, the previous issue somewhat resolved- still tender, as it should be. He too smiled, unknowingly. But he never understood why Steve got nervous around the Empire State Building from that point on. 

Additionally, word got out that Peter was Spiderman; it was a small compound. This only fueled the fire that Peter was Tony’s son, and the team could never really figure it out. Whenever they found evidence saying he wasn’t, someone would bring up something like Nat recalling Peter slipping up and calling Tony dad. Tony just watched the chaos with his arm around his kid.  
“Are we going to tell them?” Peter asked thoughtfully.  
Tony rubbed his goatee and smirked proudly, “When it stops being funny.”

Maybe the team couldn’t ever figure that one out, but they knew one thing, and Cap had made it very clear. If anyone hurt Tony, they would have to answer to Peter Parker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all liked it! Next one may take a while- it's gonna be painfulllll so I'm sorrryyyy. Stay tuned!  
> Don't forget to comment and leave kudos and suggestions for next fics even- I'm open to that too :)  
> Thanks for reading and i'm so glad you all are loving the story! <3 <3 
> 
> PS> thexploress i found the best way to incorporate the baseball game...it's gonna really hurt though, you'll see. it's great and awful and im not making sense. but yeah :)


	4. Don't hurt him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one is an oof. But good. Sorry for the rushed ending and thanks for staying with this! Hope you enjoy :)

Tony was working in his lab when the alarm went off. He had been concentrating on the hand repulsor on his suit, using tweezers with 2 small wires that needed to be connected to the base plate. He had just placed the wire in its connector before the alarm suddenly blared. Tony’s hand jerked and he saw the wire touch the wrong spot-  
He didn’t even have time to say a word Cap wouldn’t have liked; the repulsor let out a blast as the wire touched the wrong place, and Tony felt the kickback, throwing him backward across the room. Tony hit the ground groaning, his back up against the opposite wall. He blinked, rubbing his head and getting to his feet before he snapped to his senses and realized what the alarm was.  
Then he had time to say a word that Cap would have yelled at him for. Tony shoved off his repulsor and ran over to the nearest computer and tapped into surveillance. 4 breaches.  
“FRIDAY talk to me!” Tony yelled.  
“Boss it’s-I’m calling 911 and informing Steve and General Ross.”  
Team Cap was on a conference oversees. They would be back tomorrow. Rhodey was at Headquarters for the day and Pepper was on a Stark Industries convention. It was just Tony at the compound.  
“Yeah, what the heck is going on!” Tony said, already calling for a suit.  
“Breakin in Northwest End, and explosion detected in South West.”  
“What about workers?” Tony asked, his brain whirling as he manually helped FRIDAY shut the compound down and send out his enforcements.  
“Already evacuating. They should all get out.”  
Tony’s Iron Man suit burst through the wall and enclosed around him. The helmet hadn’t come over his head yet and he continued to scan through screens, his fingers flying over the pads, locking restricted rooms while FRIDAY moved weapons and suits into their underground facility. They would be safe there.  
“Log me out FRI, I’m gonna go deal with whoever broke into my house.”  
“2 levels down. Majority of heat sources are approaching from NorthWest wing.”  
“How many are there?” Tony asked.  
“I’m getting readings now- there’s nine-” FRIDAY’s voice cut off. Tony thought he had lost her for a second, but with prompting she spoke again.  
“Sir they have a hostage.”  
They what? Tony’s mind whirled, Pepper, Rhodey, any of the other Avengers were all gone. Was it a worker?  
Oh God...it was Thursday. There was no school tomorrow. The baseball game was today.  
Oh God, no.  
“Who?” Tony whispered.  
“It’s- it’s Peter.”

“Tony Stark!” Came a rough and taunting voice.  
Tony walked calmly down the hallway, trying to stop his heart from racing. He was breathing hard, his head spinning. There was a pounding in his ears and a slight ringing. He was shaking but no one could tell beneath the suit. 9 men were visible walking toward him from the other end of the hallway. 2 were dragging an all too familiar teenager in their arms.  
Please, tell me they haven’t hurt him- please…  
Peter looked up and Tony’s heart was squeezed by a cold fist. His Yankees jersey was smudged with dirt in the center like he had been forced into the ground. The kid’s hair was plastered to his forehead, wet with sweat. His nose was bleeding and he already had a bruise forming by his eyebrow and jaw.  
“Hey Tony-” Peter spoke weakly. He could tell the kid was dazed as Tony locked eyes with him, but he knew the hits hadn’t been to hard thanks to Peter’s spider abilities. Was he stalling? Tony couldn’t tell. But as far as he knew, they hadn’t figured out he was Spiderman.  
Tony willed his helmet to recede to his neck so Peter could see his face and he gave Peter the best brave face he could, smiling weakly, “It’s going to be ok Peter. I’m here ok.”  
“Shut up.” One of the men stepped forward, holding a gun.  
“Ok hey, let’s put the gun down shall we?” Tony said, holding up his hands.  
“Then how about you take off that suit?” he snarled.  
“No way,” Tony laughed.  
The man pointed the gun at him and Peter let out a strangled yell against his will, fighting the two men, but reserving his strength.  
Tony grinned, “You think a gun will work on this?”  
The man nodded to himself mostly before he turned around and smacked Peter across the face with the butt of the firearm. Peter’s head whipped to the side before it sank to his chest. He let out a small but stifled cry of pain.  
“Stop!” Tony roared, immediately stepping out of the suit and making it hover a few feet behind him, “Stop, he’s just a kid!”  
“Yeah he is just a kid,” the man went over to Peter, “how old are you son?”  
“Don’t call me son,” Peter growled with fury in his eyes. It earned him a slap and Tony flinched. Peter didn’t break his stare.  
“I asked how old are you?” the man repeated the question.  
“I’m 15,” Peter snarled.  
The man raised his eyebrows, “You look older.”  
“I’m flattered,” Peter muttered.  
Tony shot him a look. Curse his big mouth; Peter had gotten his short sarcastic quips from him. He quickly spoke before the man could hurt Peter again.  
“Who are you and what do you want? Look, FBI, CIA, cops, you name it are all on their way so I suggest you leave the kid and get out of here now. And keep running for the rest of your life. Or we can stay and have a nice showdown.”  
“I have what, 5 minutes? About?” The man shrugged, smiling. His grin made Tony uneasy.  
“If you want to round, carry the 1 excetera,” Tony snapped.  
“Let’s make sure this kid here doesn’t get hurt shall we? I’d keep the back talk down a bit,” he said calmly.  
Tony’s blood was boiling. How dare they use Peter as collateral?  
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” the man said, shrugging, “I’m going to have you lock your base down. Then we’ll talk. Easy as that.” The man was done and he spread his hands, raising his eyebrows, “You have my word.”  
“Yeah your word means jack to me,” Tony snarled.  
“I don’t think you have a choice though, do you?”  
The 2 men holding Peter straightened him roughly and one of them pressed a gun to Peter’s temple. Tony tensed, his hands curling into fists and he nods, locking eyes with Peter.  
“Well we warned them kiddo,” Tony said, winking at Peter who’s lip curled up slightly. Tony lunged forward without warning and tackled the man who had put the gun to Peter’s head They slammed into the floor and he punched him in the face before springing up and disarming the next man who was fumbling with his gun. Tony’s suit swerved around them and hit the 2 men going for Tony, dragging one down the hallway and exploding the other into the wall.  
Peter had done more than well on his own, flipping up and bringing himself behind his two captors. He dropped to the floor and spun with his foot extended, toppling the two men. From the floor Peter sprang backward, flipping again and kicking one of the men in the chest, sending him flying into the back wall. Peter ducked a punch from another and grabbed the arm, shoving him into the last man and punching the first one across the face. Tony willed the suit to blast them both backward and the 2 men collapsed unconscious.  
Tony turned to look at Peter who was breathing hard but smiling.  
“Well we’re awesome-” Tony started to say.  
BANG.  
Tony let out a cry of pain, clutching his bleeding shoulder. Tony stumbled back from the force, before he grit his teeth and steadied himself, slightly shaking. He whirled and saw the rest of the team that FRIDAY had previously pointed out heading down the hallway. Through his blurry vision from the sting in his arm he could make out men with guns, similar to those whom he and Peter had just took out, but these seemed more sensible, all with guns raised and keeping their distance. And as the lead one had just demonstrated, they weren’t afraid to pull the trigger.  
A man was leading the group of 5 men and he had the gun pointed at Tony again. For a second Tony thought he was going to shoot him, but then the man’s eyes flicked to Peter who had let out a strangled scream when the bullet sunk into Tony’s shoulder. Hearing Peter’s desperate scream almost hurt more than the bullet wound and he forced himself to stay standing for the kid.  
“What the heck is wrong with you?” Peter yelled, “He could die!”  
“Relax kid, I knew where I was shooting. It’s just a graze. You take one more step toward him and he might not be so lucky,” the man said.  
Peter froze; he had started to move to go help Tony who was clutching his arm. Tony nodded at him weakly to tell him he was ok. Peter’s hands curled into fists.  
“Who are you and what do you want?” Tony snarled, gathering up as much courage he had, using anger to hide the pain. With the other man he had been stalling, but he was less confident with this group.  
“Business. As always, Mr. Stark. But I feel like this is too casual. Maybe a more restricted setting. Just the 3 of us?”  
“The 3 of us- look just let the kid go-” Tony started to say.  
“No, no, why can’t he join in on the fun? Just saying we all need to settle down, maybe go in a conference room, have a seat. You do what I say and you answer a few questions and no one gets hurt.”  
“You just shot him!” Peter yelled.  
“Yeah and I’ll do it again. Get in the conference room,” the man snarled.  
Peter and Tony locked eyes. Tony’s command was clear. RUN. Peter’s response was also clear. NO.  
“At least let me get a bandage from the med lab?” Peter asked, “Please?”  
The man looked at Peter as if deciding if he was faking it or not. He then nodded and 2 men walked forward, roughly grabbing Peter’s arms so hard that the kid winced.  
“Easy!” Tony barked, glaring at the two while still holding his shoulder, “Easy.”  
The man walked forward and looked at his gun thoughtfully, holding it right in front of Peter’s face.  
“No tricks. Or you get hurt,” he promised, hoping to scare the kid. Unfortunately he hadn’t met Peter Parker before. The kid smiled sarcastically.  
“Sorry man, you’re not the first who’s pulled a gun on me,” Peter shrugged as much as he could with his arms held down.  
The man nodded and made a face, before he stepped back and moved the muzzle to point at Tony, noticing how Peter tensed, his breathing becoming quicker, and how he was slightly yanking on the arms that held him.  
“No tricks,” the man said again.  
Peter glared at him. He and Tony locked eyes for one last second before he was led off down the hall. They had spoken with their eyes.

Are you hurt?  
I’m fine. You’re not fine though.  
I’m fine Peter.  
You got shot Tony! You’re not fine.  
Just stay calm. I’ll get us out of this.  
Should I try something?  
No Pete.  
I don’t want to leave you alone.  
I’ll be fine. I promise. I’ll get us out of this ok?

And then he was halfway down the hallway. Tony turned the man who had been intently watching him and Peter.  
“I’ll ask again. Who are you and what do you want?”  
“Disarm your suit,” the man said calmly.  
Tony hesitated a bit, but then he slowly walked over, the gun trained on him the whole time and disarmed the suit, wincing as he flexed his shoulder. He went around to the back and manually turned on the distress signal on his tracker implant that was in his shoulder. If it was on the suit it would be too suspicious but by manually emitting a signal that could kickstart his tracker...it could get people here faster if FRIDAY didn’t have enough time to call anyone; he had turned her off the minute he knew Peter was involved. The suit powered down and collapsed in on itself, the lights flicking out as the suit went black.  
“Well you can be strangely compliant,” the man admitted.  
“What can I say?” Tony tried to spread his arms and he winced, glaring at his bad shoulder, “I’m a businessman.”  
“Indeed. Now shut down the compound,” he demanded.  
Tony hesitated.  
“Maybe you need some proper motivation. I can just radio my buddies to beat the crap out of that kid and they’d have to drag him back like a rag doll. Or he can come back perfectly fine. You decide.”  
Tony couldn’t let Peter get hurt. He walked briskly over to the panal in the wall and manually shut down the compound. The alarms cut off and the blinking in the hallway stopped, leaving Tony’s ears ringing. He winced and wiped his bloodied hand on his jacket before he clasped it again against the wound. The man nodded, slightly impressed and then he waved the gun to the left.  
“Let’s talk in the conference room.”  
Tony was pushed into the room and 2 minutes later he was tightly tied to one of the chairs.  
“So if my back scratches-” he asked, turning to look at the man who had been pacing across the room.  
“Always one to crack jokes Stark,” the man smiled and shook his head.  
“We can talk about my future career of comedy or we can get down to business. Who are you and what the heck do you want?” Tony said, slightly testing the ropes that they had obviously had for this exact reason. They had planned this.  
“My name is John Malette, and you have no idea who I am. You had no idea who my son was either. On a missions trip to Sokovia. Died. Because of you.”  
A couple months ago, that would have hit Tony hard. He would have been submissive, beaten himself up for it as well, asked for the pain because he knew he deserved it. But Peter had made him realize that he wasn’t responsible for all those deaths. He had saved so many people, but sometimes you can’t save everyone.  
“Look, I’m sorry. But I did my best. I guarantee that you would have done the same in my position. It was innocent lives or the world. And you can’t hold me to that anymore. I’ve accepted it. I’ve moved on. I’m sorry. I am. I’m sorry for the pain and loss I’ve caused you, I am, I’m sorry, but you can’t try and convince me it was my fault.”  
“Maybe you’ve moved on,” John nodded, “but I haven’t. So that ties into what I want. I want you to hurt,” the man said, glaring at Tony with as much hate as he could muster.  
“Well you did shoot me, so…” Tony grinned.  
The man smiled at him, clearly annoyed, “You think you’re funny.”  
“Oh I’m hilarious. What I’m trying to figure out is how you think you’re going to get away with this. This isn’t the first time it’s happened you know,” Tony says calmly, gritting his teeth as every chance he gets to bite back the pain.  
“But this is the first time with that kid involved, isn’t it?” John snarls.  
Tony freezes; he thinks he actually stopped breathing. John notices.  
“Who is he by the way?”  
“My intern,” Tony says simply.  
“Uh huh. Intern, you say?” the man restated, searching Tony’s gaze for emotions indicating he was lying. Truth is, Tony thought of Peter as a son, and would kill anyone who laid a hand on him. But for right now, they didn’t need to know that. If they knew Peter was just an intern maybe they would realize hw couldn’t be used to break Tony and he wouldn’t get hurt. The last thing Tony wanted was Peter getting hurt because of him.  
“Yeah, intern. Are you deaf?” Tony snapped.  
The fist came faster than expected and it connected right with his jaw, snapping his head back. John flexed his wrist afterward, smiling slightly.  
Tony cursed at him while laughing, “You hurt your hand there?”  
“I think I’ve figured it out,” John suddenly said, pointing at Tony, “you’re strong, I’ll give you that. That’s how you handle all the deaths. You’ve felt the pain to max to the point where you can’t feel it anymore. But seeing others in pain...that’s your weak spot.”  
Tony was shaking and no lengthy retorts came to mind. They both knew he had been referencing Peter.  
“You touch him and I make sure you permanently stop breathing,” Tony snarled.  
John smiled softly, “You’re protective of him. That’s sweet.” He flipped a chair around so he can straddle it and sit in front of Tony; he had slid the table out of the way.  
“He’s 15. You dragged a high schooler into this,” Tony hissed.  
John shrugged, “My men found him walking into the compound. He’s quite the fighter. Took 6 men to restrain him and that was with 3 doses of a knockout serum.”  
That’s why Peter had been slightly dazed, Tony realized. The thought of the men grabbing Peter and forcing him to his knees, punching and kicking him all to just drug him- it made Tony pissed and he yanked at his bonds, jerking the chair.  
“I’m going to kill you,” Tony promised.  
“Have fun with that Stark. But now that we have a little time, I think I should have fun first. Oh look who it is.” The man’s gaze turned to the door. Peter had just been shoved in with bandages in his clenched fists. He shook off the two men that had firm grips on his arms, and his gaze immediately found Tony, tied to a chair. Peter glared daggers John who was sitting in front of Tony. Then Peter’s gaze focussed on Tony’s face, right where he had gotten punched. Tony guessed the hit was visible because Peter’s knuckles turned white and his glare intensified.  
“Why don’t you have a seat kid?” the man motioned to the chair next to him.  
“What do you want?” Peter snarled, not moving an inch  
“To ask you a couple questions that’s all,” the man promised, “if you want to tend to his shoulder first that’s fine. I don’t want him dying on me yet.”  
Peter flinched at ‘yet’ and slowly made his way over to Tony. With hands that were slightly trembling he pressed the bandage around Tony’s arm to try and stop the bleeding. Peter’s eyes flicked to Tony’s ropes and Tony discretely shook his head.  
“Sit down kid,” John said. Peter didn’t move, locking eyes with Tony who pleaded with his eyes to do what the man said.  
“Don’t make me ask again,” John warned, giving Peter the same unsettling smile he had given Tony.  
In a minute Peter was tied to the chair the same way Tony was. Unfortunately, now knowing that he couldn’t use his fists to fight, Peter used his mouth.  
“Hey so how long is this going to take? Because we have tickets to go to a baseball game?” Peter said nonchalantly.  
“Oh I think you’re going to have to get a refund,” the man said.  
“They’re nonrefundable though,” Tony sighed, “That’s a bummer.”  
“You two just love to crack jokes don’t you?” the man said, going over to Peter and ruffling his hair. Peter ducked away from the unwanted touch until the man roughly clasped his shoulders.  
“I don’t think I know your name yet, do I?” he asked.  
Peter gave a glance to Tony who nodded. If they were honest now, they would be more convinced if they ever had to lie.  
“Peter,” Peter said slowly, tense under the man’s hands on his shoulders, holding him in place.  
“And who’s that?” he lifted one hand to point at Tony.  
“What do you mean who’s that?” Peter laughed. “Have you been living under a rock? That’s Tony Stark. Genius Billionaire Playboy Philanthropist. And Iron Man. Ring any bells?”  
“A few,” the man shot back, matching Peter’s level of snark, “and what is he to you?”  
Peter finally understood where this was going. His gaze snapped to Tony and he spoke calmly.  
“My boss, why?”  
“Interesting,” the man nodded, walking over to Tony, “And let me get this straight. He’s your intern. He just works for you.”  
“I feel like we’ve had this conversation before,” Tony leans to look at Peter who nods sarcastically.  
Then without warning the man smiled and pressed down hard on Tony’s chest, right where the arc reactor was. Tony choked on a cry, trying to gulp down the pain as he curled his fists, digging his nails into his palms and blinking the spots of white away that were slowly taking over his vision. He let out a gasp of pain, the ringing in his ears getting louder. He heard Peter yelling in the corner of his mind.  
“Stop it! Stop, please!”  
Then the man let up. Tony gasped for air, coughing and taking ragged breaths.  
“Tony!” Peter screamed, “Tony!”  
“I’m ok Pete…” Tony blinked, wincing again and flexing his hands that were tied to the arms of the chair.  
“You’re sick,” Peter swore at the man, shaking his head, clearly panicked and distressed.  
“Let’s get on with it shall we?” the man turned the chair to sit in front of Peter, “listen here Pete-”  
Peter didn’t miss a beat. He nodded to Tony, “Only he gets to call me that.”  
Tony smiled, his chest filled with pride and he winked at Peter who gave him a smirk.  
John smiled and held up in hands, palms up in surrender, “Fair enough, fair enough. Point is, your ‘boss’ Tony, has done some bad stuff. Killed my son actually.”  
“He didn’t kill him,” Peter hissed, earning him a slap. Peter barely flinched and that just made John angrier. Tony let out a low growl at the hit, yanking on his ropes again.  
“He did. Dropped a city on him actually,” John snapped, “and it hurt me. It broke me. They say that Tony Stark is unbreakable. I’m gonna try to break him, by doing the same thing he did to me. Hurting a loved one.”  
Peter gave a nervous laugh, “What are you talking about? I’m just an intern-”  
“Sure you are,” John nodded, “We’ll see about that.”  
“Don’t touch him,” Tony snarled, “You hurt him and I’ll kill you, I swear to God I will.”  
“You don’t scare me,” Peter grinned at John, but Tony could see the fear in his eyes and the waver in his smile.  
“So Tony, you sure he’s just your intern?” John said, pulling his chair over to Tony and sitting down in it, leaning back and looking over at him.  
“Just let the kid go. Don’t hurt him,” Tony said calmly, but he was starting to shake a bit and he curled his fists.  
“Afraid I can’t do that Tony,” John shrugged. He nodded to the man standing at the door.  
“No- wait-” Tony yelled.  
The man punched Peter hard in the stomach, and then in the ribs. Peter let out a small gasp of pain and curled his fists, making eye contact with Tony.  
“You’re gonna die first,” Tony swore at the man who just punched Peter again, this time in the face.  
“Dude, prom’s coming up,” Peter whined, flicking hair out of his face and wincing. He clearly had a broken and bleeding nose.  
“Intern right?” John asked, knitting his brow, “Just checking.”  
Tony tried to steady his breathing and clear his mind, but he couldn’t between his screaming and Peter’s cries of pain and the grinning of the lunatic next to him and the realization that this was his fault-  
“Leave him alone!” Tony yelled.  
Think of a plan. Get them out of this.  
Then Peter cried out in pain again, his head slumped to his chest. Tony yanked on his ropes, his wrists raw.  
“Pete, look at me, stay awake,” Tony pleaded, begging the teen not to go unconscious.  
“Does it hurt Tony?” John put a hand on his shoulder and Tony was too busy looking at Peter to shake him off. The boy was trying to be strong for him and he smiled weakly, taking shallow breaths. He no doubt had broken ribs.  
“Yes it does. You got what you wanted. God, just let him go!” Tony pleaded.  
“Why does it hurt so much?” John asked, “He’s just your intern.”  
“That’s my kid,” Tony snarled, looking up weakly. John grinned, finally accepting the surrender.  
“Because that’s my kid,” Tony said again, “just let him go. Do whatever you want to me, just-”  
“N-No, Tony-” Peter lifted his head, blinking and wincing as the effort hurt his eye that was swelling up from a punch.  
“Hi Pete, how are you?” John asked sweetly.  
“Be a lot better if I didn’t have to look at your ugly mug,” Peter grumbled.  
“Oh someone’s grumpy,” John pouted, punching Tony in his bad shoulder, making him wince.  
“Yeah, sorry. Tough morning. Missed my baseball game,” Peter groaned in pain.  
Tony smiled weakly at him, “We’ll go to the next one. Yeha you owe me 200 dollars.”  
“Throw in 70 for food,” Peter added.  
“Oh right,” Tony nodded, “300 should cover it-”  
John punched him across the face. Peter let out a strangled yell, yanking with whatever strength he had left on his wrists.  
“That’s where your mouth gets you,” John snarled, a firm grip on Tony’s hair, tugging on his scalp.  
“It’s worth it. I think I hit a sweet spot,” Tony grinned.  
Another punch, this one across the head. Tony almost tipped out of his chair and he gasped in pain, blinking and gritting his teeth, trying to let the pounding in his ears subside.  
Then he felt a small tug on his shoulder. Without looking, Tony knew what it was. And he suppressed a smile. Someone was close. Whether it was Rhodey, or FBI, or the police or what, someone was close. As if on cue someone entered the room with a nervous expression.  
“They’ve surrounded the building and pinpointed our location.”  
John frowned, “How? I thought we jammed scanners.”  
“Unknown emitter somewhere,” the man shrugged, hefting his gun.  
John turned and glared at Tony who looked at him innocently.  
“Someone didn’t check their list twice,” Tony grinned.  
“Where is it?” John snarled.  
“Doesn’t make a difference now-” Tony started to say.  
“Where is it or I pull the trigger,” John swore, pulling out his gun and pointing it at Peter’s leg. Tony hesitated and he moved his finger to tug on the trigger.  
“No!” Tony yelled, “It’s in my shoulder. It’s an implant.”  
John swore. He looked up at the man who was still waiting for orders.  
“Hold them off as long as you can,” he demanded.  
Peter started laughing, “You’re going to jail. I’ll wave at you through the glass. We can talk on those yellow phones?”  
John wasn’t listening. He pulled out a knife from the back of his belt and walked over to Tony who killed his grin.  
“Where is it?” he snarled, holding the knife with a trembling hand, “it will hurt a little less if you tell me.”  
“What are you going to-” Peter started before he understood and shook his head, thrashing in the chair, “Wait, wait-”  
“Shoulder,” Tony gulped, “Left one, right where the bullet wound would be just other side.”  
John made sure to smile at him before he went in with the knife.  
“Wait!” Peter screamed, “NO!”  
Tony grit his teeth as John made a small slice with the knife, blood trickling down his arm, “Peter don’t watch.”  
“Stop it!” Peter screamed, “They’ve already locked on to the signal, it won’t do anything!”  
“Peter!” Tony barked, and the kid’s fearful eyes locked onto his. Tony gave him a weak smile, swallowing down another scream, “Don’t look. Talk about something. A-” Tony closed his eyes, letting out a choked gasp as John cut into his skin.  
“Talk about something Peter. Don’t look, eyes on me.”  
John was purposely moving the knife around in his arm and it took all of Tony’s willpower not to scream in pain. Peter started talking, keeping his eyes locked with Tony’s. Whenever they shifted he would say his name quickly and then grit his teeth again. He wouldn’t give John the satisfaction of hearing him scream. Peter was babbling, gulping down sobs and yells, talking about school, star wars, how he was going to kill John, and it kept Tony calm hearing his kid’s voice.  
When John was done he clapped Tony on the back, admiring his prize. Tony gasped, slumping forward and breathing hard, letting out small gasps of pain.  
Peter was shaking, and he was looking at John, swearing he would kill him.  
John grinned and walked over to Peter, "Would you like to have a matching scar?" "No- leave him alone! Pete!" Tony was wide awake and alert, the pain fleeting in an instant as he thought about his kid going through what he went through.  
John watched Tony as he gripped Peter by the shoulder and pushed up his shirt to expose his bare arm. John traced the kid's collarbone with the tip of the knife, making Peter shiver before John laughed and brushed some hair away from Peter's forehead with the flat side. Peter flinched and leaned as far as he could away from the blade and yanked on his bonds.  
“Don’t you touch him,” Tony swore, his throat hoarse, “Don’t you dare. Don't- please. God, you leave him ALONE! DON'T TOUCH HIM!”  
Peter and Tony made eye contact. Peter tensed. Tony shifted his gaze.  
And then the door exploded open. 

Tony turned his head as the door caved in. Rhodey came in with his War Machine suit and he batted John across the room, just as the knife had touched the tip of Peter’s shoulder. The man crumpled to the ground, the knife clattering away to the corner of the room.  
“Rhodes!” Tony yelled, majorly relieved.  
“Tony! Peter! Thank God you guys are ok,” the helmet flipped open, revealing Rhodey’s concerned expression. There was shooting outside and Rhodey quickly hurried over to Peter.  
“I’m gonna untie the kid’s wrist. Can you handle the rest Peter?” He asked, already working on the ropes.  
“Yeah,” Peter nodded weakly. Rhodes finished with Peter’s ropes and then saluted Tony before he flew back out and started shooting back at the enemies.  
“Pete, you ok?” Tony asked.  
“Yeah. Never...better…” Peter was fumbling with his other hand and then went to his ankles, groaning in pain from the strain on his ribs.  
Then he slowly stood up, stumbling over and Tony wished he could have reached out and caught him as the kid collapsed at his feet, grasping his knee for support. He reached up for the ropes around Tony’s wrists and Tony caught side of his bloodied and raw hands from similarly yanking on the ropes. Once Peter had tugged and twisted enough the ropes well off and Tony was working on his other hand in a flash to get himself free as Peter was more than happy to drop to the floor and try and loosen his ankles. Tony yanked the ropes off and felt his ankles loosen and drop. He bent down, ignoring the pain in his whole body as he bent down and grasped his son, pulling him to his feet. Peter stood straighter, and he and Tony grasped forearms holding each other at shoulder length. Tony reached up and cupped the back of Peter’s neck, inspecting him for injuries. His heart hurt more than anything else.  
“I’m so sorry Peter. This is all my fault,” Tony said, pulling his son into him.  
Peter buried his face into Tony’s chest and hugged him back.  
“It’s not your fault,” Peter said, his voice muffled, “I didn’t think...I should have used another entrance...I just thought I could help and then-”  
“I’m so proud of you,” Tony said, pulling away from him so he could look him in the eyes, “I’m so proud Peter.”  
Peter just gave a murmur and sank into his arms again. Tony knew the feeling. He wished he could just have the kid in his arms for the rest of his life, there, safe, where he could protect him. They had been forced to watch each other get hurt, while seperated, and all Tony wanted right now was to close the space between them. He hugged Peter, running a hand through his kid’s hair as he held him tightly against his chest.  
Tony tapped into a secret panel on the wall, still holding Peter at his side and called for a suit. In a second it came bursting in, forming around his body. He clutched Peter against him and headed for the door. Then Peter dropped, taking Tony with him. They hit the ground just as a shot rang out over their heads. Tony grabbed Peter and fired up his boots, sliding a bit across the floor until they were behind the table. He had curled protectively around his kid as they had fallen and Peter was now wide and alert, his eyes scanning between the chairs. They saw the bottom half of a man, across the room. John had gotten up and was walking toward the table they were crouched behind with a limp, his foot twisted the wrong way.  
“You stay behind me, understand?” Tony hissed at Peter who nodded vigorously.  
“Yes sir,” he whispered.  
Tony got up and put out his repulsor, aiming it right at John who was aiming his gun a little lower, trying to get a glimpse of Peter. Tony had his arm protectively around Peter behind him.  
“You try and shoot him and you’re dead before you hit the floor,” Tony snapped angrily, his repulsor heating up. John went uneasy and the gun dipped.  
“Nobody. Hurts my kid and gets away with it. Nobody,” Tony snarls. And then he fires before John can say anything. The gun clatters to the floor and John is blasted back into the wall. Tony grabs Peter by the arm and leads him out of the room, keeping him behind him at all times, not caring when his shoulder aches or when FRIDAY tells him he’s in critical condition. All he cared about was getting Peter out of there.

And when they finally did they both leaned against the outer wall as police started to show up. They heard an ambulance on its way. Rhodey had checked in; he was taking John and his partners into custody.  
“I’m sorry Pete. You shouldn’t have gotten hurt,” Tony said, trying to stop the bleeding from his gunshot wound, “this is all my fault.”  
“No. It’s not,” Peter said, shaking his head, blinking from the bright sun, “Tony you would do anything for me. Don’t you think I would do the same?”  
“You shouldn’t have to,” Tony said, looking down at him fondly.  
“I have a job too you know?” Peter said, wincing as he held his ribs.  
They looked at each other for a quick moment before Tony gave a weak smile, full of pride and pulled him into his chest with a low, “Come here kid.”  
Peter went limp against his chest and Tony didn’t mind supporting him. Eventually they both sank to the ground against the wall and Tony ruffled Peter’s hair fondly.  
“You owe me a baseball game,” Peter muttered, “and a new jersey.”  
Tony looked down at his kid who was curled up against him and put his head against the wall closing his eyes.  
“You got it kid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! How was that?  
> Thoughts for this chap and last chap would be awesome <3  
> Stay tuned!


	5. I'll always catch you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> LAST CHAPTER!! So sorry it took a while :(  
> Thank you all so much for your support in this, I'm so glad you liked it! :)  
> Stay tuned for more Tony and Peter fics <3 and thank you all so much for reading.

Tony got the alert at 4 o’clock at night that Peter had put the suit on. FRIDAY had woken him up and Tony groaned when she softly read him the notification. It wasn’t like he had been sleeping well. Tony sighed and sat up. Pepper brushed his arm sleepily.  
“What is it,” she murmured, bringing the covers closer to her chest.  
“Just have to check up on some stuff, I’ll be back in a bit, I promise,” he whispered back, kissing her lightly on the forehead. Pepper nodded and fell back into a deep sleep; her breathing got heavy. Tony knew it was safe to slip out of bed and so he did, putting a jacket on over his navy blue tank top. He slipped on an old pair of shoes and zipped up his coat, walking down the hall. A suit came zooming down the hallway and it melded around Tony. The helmet came over his head and he took a left, blasting out of the small circular door he had built for quick exits.  
“Where is he Friday?” Tony sighed. Truth is, that he and Peter hadn’t been doing too well. They had been fighting more often. Not fist fighting, just small arguments that ended in them going their separate ways for the day and pretending that there was nothing wrong the next time they saw each other. But it was taking a toll on Tony, and he knew it was taking a toll on the kid too.  
Mad at each other or not, Tony would kill someone anything happened to that kid. He still had nightmares of when those men had broken in and tied Peter up, hurting him to get to Tony.  
Today had been the most recent episode of the Cold War between the pair. Tony slowed to a stop, hovering in the air, his helmet blinking as it monitored the tracking of Peter’s suit. He finally got a good lock on the kid and saw him swinging around the corner. Tony decided to cut him off around the next turn.  
He flew level with the teen’s path as he swung himself in a tight curve. Peter’s eyes widened when he made the curve, the lenses in the suit going all white and he yelped, letting go of his web but Tony caught him as he dropped, reaching out and snagging him under the arms.  
“Tony!” Peter yelped.  
“Hey Spiderman,” Tony said sarcastically, not letting Peter drop even though the kid struggled.  
“Put me down!” Peter yelled.  
“No. So stop struggling or you’ll make us crash,” Tony said firmly.  
Peter let out a frustrated groan but he obeyed. He stayed still, his legs dangling gently in the open air below him as Tony flew to the nearest roof. Peter wriggles out of his grip and dropped, landing perfectly on one knee. Tony landed as well. Peter was scowling as he ripped off his mask, revealing his bed head that he hadn’t combed down.  
“What are you thinking?” Tony asked, “It’s after curfew.”  
“Yeah well,” Peter grumbled, almost scoffing and turning away. He had obviously known that and not cared.  
“Peter,” Tony says firmly, which usually stopped the kid in his tracks.  
“Look, if you cared you’d be here,” Peter said over his shoulder, instead walking toward the ledge to swing off.  
Tony exited out his suit his suit and walked briskly forward, grabbing the kid by the wrist before he could shoot a web. Peter whirled, his eyes wider than they had already been and he gasped, his mouth open. He allowed a frowning Tony to pull him back to where they had originally been talking.  
“That sentence is a curse for you,” Tony said finally letting go of the teens arm, “I always care. And I’m always gonna be here.”  
“Yeah,” Peter shrugged, looking up guiltily.  
“Why are you out here Pete?” Tony asked.  
Peter sighed and kicked the ground, “I needed to clear my head.”  
“And you couldn’t have done that some other way?” Tony asked him weakly.  
Peter glared at him and shook his head.  
“Can you go back home please?” Tony said, getting a little annoyed now. The kid was fine and he wanted to go back to bed.  
“No,” Peter shook his head stubbornly, “I’m not a kid Tony. I can take care of myself.”  
“No. You can’t,” Tony hissed, stepping forward. Peter backed off a bit, recoiling. “You can’t always take care of yourself. “Head home Pete,” Tony demanded.  
Peter shook his head angrilly, “No. I’m 16 and a half. I can be out past midnight in my hometown. I’m not even doing anything-”  
“There are bad people in this world Peter, you could get hurt-” Tony snapped.  
“Yeah well I’ll deal with them! I do all the time!” Peter pointed out.  
“Yeah and then I have to come get you out of trouble!” Tony scowled.  
“Then maybe don’t next time,” Peter’s eyes flashed.  
Tony glared at him. Peter glared right back.  
“Whatever then,” Tony said angrily, “call me if you need anything, or wait, you probably won’t because you’ll have it all under control?”  
Peter gave him a fake forced smile that was way too sarcastic for Tony liking, even though he had been the one to teach it to him. He usually used it with Ross.  
“Yep,” Peter said shortly. It was so tense, and awkward. It was never like this. Now it was.  
Tony scoffed again, flicking his helmet closed, “I guess I’ll see you around kid.”  
“Yep,” Peter said again, walking over to the ledge and swinging off without even saying goodbye. Tony flew off in the other direction, back to the compound. FRIDAY reported Peter had watched him leave from a rooftop. Tony’s heart hurt knowing that and he wanted to fly back and give Peter a hug, but he realized Peter probably wouldn’t want it anyway.  
He didn’t want Tony’s help.  
Said so himself.

Tony didn’t know that Peter had shoved the mask on to hide the tears in his eyes.  
Peter didn’t know that Tony found the highest building he could and stayed there, ready to jump down and protect him. He stayed there until 4 in the morning when Peter finally went back to his apartment. 

 

“Hey Tony,” Peter said weakly as he knocked on the door and entered the labs.  
Tony looked up from the table he had been hunched over and rubbed the back of his neck, “Hey Pete.”  
They both kind of stared at each other for a bit, shuffling their feet and shifting they’re weight from side to side before Peter finally broke the silence and gathered up some cheerfulness he could muster.  
“What’s that?” He pointed to one of the contraptions on the counter.  
Tony turned around and stuttered, fumbling on his words, like Peter did when he was nervous.  
“Well, it’s for your suit. It’s a stabilizer for when you have to shoot a quick web. It won’t jerk your wrist as much if you have to jolt,” Tony explained.  
Peter smiled slightly, “Really? Thanks Tony...thanks.”  
“Yeah, no biggie,” Tony shrugged it off.  
“Hey I’m sorry about last night,” Peter said softly, filling up the silence once again.  
Tony’s gaze flashed to him for just a second, enough to give him a small smile.  
“You’ve got a lot on your plate kid, it’s-” Tony started to say, when suddenly Cap burst into the labs.  
“Tony we got a situation,” Cap said. He had probably just ran the whole length of the compound andthe man was hardly breathing any faster than normal.  
“Hydra agents got access to some chitauri weapons- hey Peter,” Cap offered, just to be polite. He smiled weakly and Peter smiled back. Cap turned his attention back to Tony who was already calling a suit.  
“and are headed for SHIELD headquarters. They’ve got some sort of bomb? We need  
to get there now.”  
“Alright,” Tony nodded, following Cap as he started to walk out of the labs. He called over his shoulder, “Pete you stay here- I’ll be back soon.”  
Peter almost laughed at that statement, dropping his backpack and unzipping it, grabbing the suit from the bottom and yanking it out, “What the heck do you mean- no I’m coming with you!”  
“Cap give me a minute. I’ll meet you out there,” Tony sighed.  
Tony whirled around to face Peter with a warning look in his eyes that Peter just  
countered. Realizing getting angry wouldn’t help his case, Tony sighed, his shoulders sinking and shook his head, “No Peter, stay out of this one please.”  
“NO!” Peter yelled angrily, “I’m sick of you keeping me out of the loop. I’m ready for this.  
I can do it Tony.”  
Tony shook his head, “Not today kid. I’m sorry, but no.”  
Peter tried to push past him and Tony stopped him, his hands firmly on Peter’s shoulders, “Peter!” he barked.  
Peter stopped and looked up, “Don’t you believe in me Tony?” That was a harsh blow he had just dealt and he knew that. He felt bad right after he said it. Tony’s face screwed up in pain.  
“Me protecting you doesn’t mean I don’t believe in you Peter,” he said firmly.  
“Yeah well that’s how it’s coming across,” Peter scowled.  
“Well I’m sorry about that,” Tony said sarcastically, “But I’d rather have you alive and pissed at me then dead.”  
“Tony-” Peter grumbled.  
“If you die, it’s on me. And I’m sorry Peter but I can’t let that happen,” Tony said, pushing Peter gently backward.  
“It’s not fair,” Peter grumbled.  
“Yeah well, life isn’t fair,” Tony grinned. Then his eyes focussed on something behind Peter and he tensed.  
Peter whirled to see what it was, and felt the suit leaving his hands. Realizing he had been tricked, Peter turned around again but Tony had already double tapped his wrist and backed out of the lab, the doors closing in front of him. Peter looked down to see the suit stripped from his hands. Tony was holding it on the other side of the closed and locked doors, smiling weakly. Peter’s eye widened in shock and he tried the handle, but it was loked.  
“TONY!” he banged on the door, looking at the suit in Tony’s hands.  
“Sorry kid, but I can’t lose you,” Tony gave him a sad smile and wink and then a suit enclosed around him.  
“Tony! Wait- no! Let me out! I can help I swear! I won’t get hurt!” Peter kicked the door.  
Tony winced and shook his head, “Pete please. Come on kid, just trust me ok? I love you.”  
Peter glared at him and kicked the door again.  
Tony lowered his head, “I’m sorry kid.” Then the helmet flipped down and Tony was gone, blasting off down the hallway.  
Peter slammed his shoulder into the door again. It was bulletproof glass- it wouldn’t break. He would need momentum. If only he had his suit…  
“FRIDAY!” Peter demanded, “Open the door!”  
“I’m sorry Peter,” came FRIDAY’s soft voice, “but Tony has forbidden me to accept your requests for exits.”  
Peter groaned angrily, “Of course he did.”

“Where’s the kid?” Rhodey asked, “you convinced him to stay?”  
He and Tony flew to the jet where the rest of the team was, landing at the foot of the ramp and walking in.  
“I locked him in the lab, does that count?” Tony asked.  
The Avengers around him had heard him and burst out laughing. Then they sobered their expressions when they realized Tony was being serious.  
Clint snickered, strapping his wrist guard on, “Nice one.”  
“He’s 16! He’s not ready,” Tony insisted.  
There was an awkward silence on the jet except for people suiting up. Wanda gave him a weak smile of support. But everyone else was shaking their heads and holding back their thoughts.  
“What? You think he is? You think Peter Parker, high schooler, awkward nerd, kid nerd is ready to become an Avenger and put himself in harms way?”  
“No,” Rhodey shook his head, “but I think that Spiderman is.” There were murmurs of agreement and Tony whirled in complete disbelief.  
“He’s a teenager in a onesie that would jump in front of any one of you guys at any chance he’d get. And his suit isn’t bulletproof-”  
“Natasha's suit isn’t bulletproof,” Scott said, putting on his helmet but leaving the mask hanging. He raised an eyebrow.  
“Natasha could drop you before you blink,” Tony said, and a chorus of snickers echoed through the jet as Clint slipped into the front to fire up the engines.  
Tony continued, “She’s a former Russian spy and has been an agent for God knows how long.”  
“Thanks Tones,” Natasha said sweetly.  
“Don’t get used to it,” he said back.  
“I just think you should give the kid some credit. He took out Sam and Bucky at the airport fight and they’re still coming,” Rhodey offered.  
“Woah woah woah, excuse me? I’m feeling singled out,” Sam said, defensive.  
“He knows that,” Cap said. He had been staring at tony and he now crossed his arms, “and I agree with Tony.”  
Tony was startled, “You? You agree with me? Mark your calendars folks. This is an amazing day.”  
“Enlighten us Cap,” Scott said, grinning.  
“Would you let Cassie into this battle?” Steve asked him, still looking at Tony.  
“Absolutely not,” Scott spluttered.  
“Let’s say she was 16 and could take care of herself. Would you let her go?” Cap asked.  
Scott shook his head. Cap spread his hands.  
“My point exactly.”  
Tony tried to contradict him and found he couldn’t. Cap was right. Peter was ready. He just couldn’t lose him. Also Cap had officially non directly called Peter Tony’s son, and Tony didn’t deny it. Everyone else had slight grins on their faces for the whole flight to the city despite the circumstances.

Peter was pacing. Had to get out. Had to get out.  
He never said it. Tony had said ‘I love you’ and he hadn’t said it back. He had done the opposite and glared at him, looking at him with hate. Peter felt a lump in his throat and he realized that if something bad happened, that would be the last time he and Tony ever talked. Peter shook his head. No. No. That couldn’t happen.  
“Karen, you there?” he asked hopefully .  
“Hi Peter,” Karen responded.  
“I need to get out of here,” Peter said to himself. A lan finally formed into his head and Peter clapped his hands excitedly.  
“Hey Karen take over the emergency fire protocol will you,” Peter grinned.  
“Peter…” FRIDAY said slowly, but there was a slight smirk in her voice.  
It was city law that every doorway, entrance and exit on an automatic lock system, be unlocked if the fire alarm was ever pulled. Peter calmly walked over to the fire alarm, and pulled it. The alarm blared and Peter covered his ears and winced, waiting for the ringing to stop. He looked over and heard the door click.  
Karen shut off the alarm but kept it’s effects in place.  
“See ya FRIDAY,” Peter said happily.  
Peter slipped through the door and ran down the hall before he skidded to a stop. Down the left hallway, the door to Tony’s other lab was open. He hurried down the hall and pushed it, surprised to see his Iron Spider suit spinning out into display across the room.  
“You’re gonna need a suit,” FRIDAY’s voice said.  
“My thoughts exactly,” Karen agreed.  
Peter grinned.

Tony was the only one set in charge of holding the wave back on the main entrance . He whirled and fought, blasting people back, blowing up their armored trucks. Bullets bounced off of his suit and Tony knocked away missiles.  
“We’ve got to fall back!” Cap shouted from across the street, throwing his shield at a couple of the enemies and grabbing it by the side as it bounced back into his hand.  
He was right. They were getting overwhelmed. Men had started to creep up on Tony bit by bit, making their way further up the street before he could blast them all back.  
The gates had already fallen and armored cars were blasting through some of the concrete walls. Clint was perched on top of the building, Natasha at the entrance, rolling by and attaching bombs to the bottom of trucks that drove past. Everyone else was in a slight curve, fighting the waves of men coming in, guns blazing. Tony was underneath the large walkway connecting the main building and the security. It was already slanted since the security warehouse had been bombed to bits. The shots slowed a bit, giving Tony a break. They were still shooting but it seemed like they were missing more, most of the shots from far away were going higher, peppering the concrete.  
Tony realized too late. He was in the center of the concrete bridge when the first rock fell, and cracks were audible throughout the entire strip. Visible too- splintering and curving like a deep scar. Dust fell from the massive ridge in the center. He heard the groan of the concrete and panicked, firing up his thruster but when the first rock fell, it clipped his boot, sending him crashing to the ground again, flat on his face. One of the beams used for support fell and hit him in the back, knocking him down again and got wedged by the surrounding rock that had already shattered against the ground, cracking the pavement. The main section was still up right? Nope. Tony looked up to see the entire walkway crashing down and Tony could only put up his hands as 10 tons fell on him.  
Tony winced and closed his eyes, FRIDAY screaming in his ear to brace. In the back of his head he heard comotion to his left and felt the air move next to him. Someone cried out and let a groan of pain and Tony moved his arms, looking up.  
“Sup,” Peter said groaning in pain. The boy let the mask recede and his bright eyes looked down at Tony, a small smile on his face. There was pain in his gaze and Peter let out a small whimper, groaning at the weight. He blew hair away from his face but it was stuck to his forehead; he was already starting to sweat. But the most shocking thing was that he was in the Iron Spider suit and Tony gaped, twisting onto his stomach, still pinned. What the heck was he doing here- that was Peter- holding up the concrete- holding up the- crap!  
“Pete-” he gasped, trying to get the beam off of him, “how’d...you...get out?”  
Peter was sweating, his arms shaking as he held up the concrete slab, the only thing stopping it from crushing Tony.  
“Pulled the fire alarm,” Peter said weakly, still shaking.  
“Genius,” Tony said breathlessly, getting his thruster fired up and pressing it against the metal pinning him, going as fast as he can, but trying to distract Peter from the pain he was in.  
“Got it from you,” Peter said through gritted teeth, trying to adjust his hand hold and almost collapsed to his knees.  
“Well aren’t you humble,” Tony said, “almost there Pete. Hold on.”  
“Mhm,” Peter said, physically shaking now, even in the suit.  
Tony broke through the beam and groaned, pushing rocks off him and wincing before he snapped back to reality and stood, pressing his hands to support the rock.  
“Let go Pete-” Tony said.  
The kid shook his head, “Get out Tony, get out-”  
“I’m not leaving you here. Let go, let me take it!” Tony yelled.  
“No,” Peter grumbled, his arms trembling even more. Tony knew he was still taking most the weight.  
“Dangit kid, why are you so stubborn?” Tony cursed.  
“Touche. And it’s one of my perks,” Peter grinned lightly, furrowing his brow in both concentration and pain.  
“Peter, let go and get out of here!” Tony demanded.  
“For the last time Tony,” Peter actually yelled, looking over at Tony, shaking, “no.”  
He was glaring at the billionaire but there was no actual hate behind the stare. Not like last time.  
“Tony, I love you- I need you to get out, please- don’t-” Peter said, taking deep and ragged breath between each thing he said.  
“Shut up kid,” Tony hissed, “I’m getting us out. I’m getting us out-”  
“I’m sorry,” Peter said softly.  
“I said shut up Parker for the love of God, I’m not losing you!” Tony yelled at him, cursing at the top of his lungs.  
“FRIDAY give me everything you’ve got on the thrusters we’re gonna tip it and blast out,” Tony said.  
Peter strained, trying to shove the rock upward and they slowly gained space. The rock lifted higher than Peter could reach and instead of crumpling, he bounded over to the set of rocks that had fallen and climbed up to the top, pushing there too.  
Tony watched the angle, his booster on the bottom so hot that the ground was charred. He shoved up a little more and then let go, spinning and firing himself at Peter who winced as he took the weight again. He slammed into Peter around the waist and wrapped his arms around him, ready to take the hits on the ground once they broke out and not let the teen get crushed against the the ground.  
Instead, Peter was the one grabbing him and the spider legs came out, encircling them and making sure they bounced, skittering across the ground. Peter and Tony hit the ground and rolled to a stop and Tony immediately scrambled over to Peter and picked him up, firing his repulsors and taking cover behind the walkway they had just been trapped under. He set the kid down, kneeling next to him, brushing his sweaty hair back from the kid’s face which was scrunched up in pain.  
“I told you to stay home,” Tony said firmly.  
“I don’t listen,” Peter said weakly. Tony grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into a sitting position and held him against his chest. Peter melted into his chest, letting out a huge relieved sigh and the kid similarly wrapped his arms around him too, letting Tony crouch over him protectively.  
“It looks good on you,” Tony says proudly, gripping Peter by the shoulders and grinning. “Of course it does,” Peter puffed his chest up a bit, proudly, “we made it.”  
Tony ruffles his hair and then sighs deeply, locking eyes with his kid. “I know if I say go home, you won’t listen,” Tony smiled sadly.  
“You’re learning,” Peter teased, giving him a goofy grin. Tony hadn’t seen that smile in a while and he was glad to have it back. 

“Peter go long!” Cap shouted, throwing his shield. Peter took a running start and jumped, webbing it and swinging, taking out a whole truck with the force. He threw it back to Cap who caught it while running and did a barrel flip, knocking 4 people down with his body and jumping up, blocking incoming shots with the painted titanium shield.  
“Tony we need to get inside. Stall!” Cap shouted into coms. Peter winced at the feedback. Tony soared above them, blasting approaching enemies as they entered his line of fire.  
Every once in a while someone would fall on their own- Scott- or suddenly have an arrow protruding through their chest -Clint. Wanda and Rhodey were holding their own near the west wing, Bruce was taking care of the armored cars- subbing in for Nat who had ran out of bombs and was now engaging in some hand to hand combat and occasional shooting when she swiped a gun. Cap, Bucky, and Sam were handling the right side with Tony and Peter combining forces to take out the middle.  
Peter noticed how they were slowly being pushed back. He tried to swing forward and gain ground but Tony yelled at him in the headset and Peter knew he had to fall back a bit. Seeing the look on Tony’s face when Peter had been holding up that bridge and hearing the tremble in his voice really made Peter realize why they had been fighting so much.  
Tony knew he was ready. Heck, he had known he was ready for a while. He just didn’t want to let him go. He didn’t want to lose him. And Peter had ignored that and made Tony feel worse about protecting him, pushed against him so much that Tony only wanted to hold hin tighter.  
Peter realizes he had only seen Tony afraid twice. Once a few minutes ago when underneath that rock, and another those couple months ago when they had been tied to those chairs by the people who broke into the compound. Both times he hadn’t been afraid for himself, but Peter. And Peter realized that he would do anything for Tony. He also knew that Tony knew that. Which is why he didn’t want him going on missions because he knew Peter would jump in front and take a bullet for him the first chance he got. Which was true.  
Peter backed off, swinging and stumbling into a backward run, putting a hand to his ear to stabilize his comms, “What’s the plan? They aren’t stopping!”  
“And where the heck are the police and SHIELD?” Tony yelled. A blast caught him in the side and he jolted, stabilizing in midair and letting out a loud cuss, “Sh-”  
“Language!” Cap said.  
“Funny Rogers, funny!” Tony snapped back. “Police forces have set up a blockade, basically closing us in but keeping them away from civilians. They’re advancing from behind them. SHIELD has evacuated the headquarters but they’re sending backup. I swear I’m gonna be on Ross’ case the minute this is over!”  
“Yeah he’s sure scared of you,” Rhodes teased.  
“Who’s side are you on bud?” Tony snapped.  
Laughing came from the comms. Peter smirked as he shot web grenades.  
“Yours. I think? I mean unless Ross pays better-” Rhodey said, clearly teasing.  
“How’s that billion dollar suit treating you?” Tony shot back.  
“Roasted,” Peter said happily.  
“You always come back to that, and shut up Peter.”  
“Don’t tell my kid to shut up!” Tony barked, only half serious.  
Clint gave a small hoot and the chatter died down for a minute, until Peter found himself back to back with basically all his friends.  
“We’ve got to get inside!” Cap yelled, batting a grenade away with a flick of his shield. It blew up, and Peter saw a couple men fall to the ground. Peter shot a couple web grenades, slowing the remaining waves down and Tony, Rhodey, and Sam took to the skies, blasting a line of fire and bombs so that everyone could get in.  
“Trap them in the building, then block all exits. They’ll have less space to move around and we’ll have them contained. We have to keep the fight here and away from the civilians,” Cap said once everyone was inside.  
Peter was breathing hard, his ribs aching and his head spinning but he dare not say that out loud. They all were tired but they all needed to be strong.  
“Split up to each level, let them come to you, then get out and monitor the exits,” Cap pointed to his left and right and the stairs, “Stay on the comms.”  
“You got it Cap,” Tony said, the helmet closing on his face.  
“Tony, Peter, top level. Natasha and Scott, level 5. Bucky and I will take 4. Wanda and Clint level 3. Scott and Sam level 2. I already got through to Bruce. He’ll stay outside and force them in. No one wants to go up against an angry Hulk.”  
As he said that there was a huge angry roar from outside and everyone smirked.  
“What about lobby?” Bucky asked, reloading his gun.  
Cap nodded, “We’ll let them have level one so they have to use the stairs. Easier targets.”  
“What are we waiting for?” Rhodey asked, closing his helmet. Everyone looked to Tony.  
“Cap to give us an inspirational speech,” Tony said grinning.  
“And Tony to make a sarcastic comment,” Natasha sighed.  
“We need some patriotic music,” Peter mumbled.  
“Skip the pep talk. You know the drill. And if you get killed, walk it off,” Cap nodded.  
Everyone headed for the stairs. 

 

Peter and Tony bounded for the stairs. Peter swung himself forward, gaining momentum and looked over his shoulder, laughing, “Keep up old man!”  
“Watch it,” Tony grinned as he shot forward. They made it to the top and Tony made Peter stand behind him as he walked forward, hand out, repulsor at the ready. They had heard pounding up the staircase, meaning there was a rather large group of men coming up behind them. They had a rough minute.  
“You stay moving at all times, you understand?” Tony demanded, gripping Peter by his shoulders and looking into his eyes.  
Peter nodded firmly.  
“You web them up from a distance. And promise me you won’t try and save me or any dumb crap that you’ve done in the past,” Tony said weakly.  
Peter made a face and rolled his eyes. He couldn't promise that.  
“You have to,” Tony said, as if reading his mind.  
“I love you Tony,” Peter said simply, grinning.  
“I love you too kid,” Tony sighed angrily, ruffling Peter’s hair before his mask enclosed his head.  
“Ready to kick butt?” Tony said, hearing the pounding come closer. Peter stuck himself to the high ceiling, his arms out ready to fire webs.  
“Heck yeah.” The kid’s eyes narrowed. And the first people broke through the door.  
Tony shot a blast that combined with Peter’s web grenade. It was a sticky explosion, taking out the first 4 or so people. Peter flipped down and sprinted, slingshotting himself forward and kicking off the next pair that made their way into the room. Tony shot two blasts underneath him.  
Peter flipped to the ground and slid, knocking people’s legs out from underneath them and staying down out of instinct as Tony blasted them before they could hit the ground. They fought together without talking, except for a few times when Peter got too close to a line of fire. Tony would bark his name into the comms and Peter would swing a bit away before getting back into the action. He threw punches and tossed guns while Tony blasted people away from Peter and sent streams of light into people’s chests, launching them backward through the walls.  
Peter’s web count was slowing and he nervously spoke to Tony through Karen, “Tony? My webs are dying!”  
“How much time u got kid?” Tony said back, panic in his voice.  
“Minute?” Peter guessed, dodging a punch.  
The window next to him shattered from bullets and Peter quickly shot a web, disarming the man before Tony slammed into him and knocked him across the floor.  
“That was too close,” Tony scowled.  
“It’s not that big of a room!” Peter protested.  
“Tell me when they’re almost out- FRIDAY how much longer?” Tony asked, stumbling forward as he was hit with some shots. Peter flipped over him and kicked the man shooting at him in the chest, sending him sliding across the floor.  
“You’ve got 10 coming up the stairway and the 3 in this room,” she reported.  
“We can handle it,” Peter said breathlessly.  
“We can handle it,” Tony repeated.  
Peter’s webs started to sputter out and he resorted to hand to hand combat, saving the last few for any emergency. Tony was desperately trying to disarm the men so Peter could fight them without the risk of getting shot.  
The first shot that actually made contact, clipped Peter in the shoulder, making him stumble backward. The bullet hadn’t gone in, but his suit wasn’t as thick or strong as Tony. It was more accustomed to help him deal with impacts, not tiny bullets. Peter tried to retaliate with a web but it jammed and sputtered out. The second shot him straight in the chest, and again didn’t go in, but was enough to make him stumble. Peter yelped at that one, his eyes widened as he gasped in pain.  
“NO!” Tony yelled as the man took another shot. Peter stumbled back again, this one catching the same shoulder as before.  
“PETER!” Tony screamed.  
His feet staggered, then they hit open air. The window. Oh God...  
Peter’s arms windmilled and he lost his balance, locking eyes with Tony as he fell backward with a scream. 

Tony heard the kid cry out in pain and forgot what he was doing. He subconsciously punched out, knocking the man halfway across the room. He turned and saw one of the agens taking shots at the kid. The first one he guessed clipped his shoulder because Peter had stumbled, his shoulder jerking back. The second hit him right in the chest. Tony had made that suit, and he knew it in his sleep. The bullets hadn’t gone into his chest but it was still enough to make him stumble and cry out. His webs weren’t working and Peter looked up helplessly.  
He was scared and vulnerable as the man took aim again. It was then that Tony then realized how close Peter was to the window. The gun was brought up-  
“NO!” Tony screamed desperately. The bullet hit Peter in the same shoulder as before, and again he was forced to stumble back- and that’s when he had no more floor to stumble to.  
“PETER!” Tony shouted.  
His foot slipped out the window and a strangled cry of surprise and terror was ripped from his throat. The kid’s arms windmilled and he caught Tony’s eye, the lenses wide and fearful. He let out an inaudible scream and then fell. He disappeared from Tony’s sight before he could even blink. And Tony’s heart went with him.  
Tony didn’t think. He just exited his suit, yelled a command to FRIDAY to blow up the room, and then he jumped out the window. 

Peter screamed again, trying to shoot a web and failing. The sticky goo sputtered and was lost in the wind as he fell, faster than he ever thought possible. Wind blew past him, creating a whistle in his ears and his heart pounded within his chest. His head was whirling and he felt like he was going to throw up. This was 100 times worse than when you fall in dreams. Peter kicked his arms and legs, flailing in open air as he fell, heading for the concrete below. He was getting dizzy. His life flashed before his eyes. Correction- Tony flashed before his eyes.  
If he squinted, it almost seemed like Tony was falling too but that wasn’t- holy crap- Tony was falling too. WIthout a suit. Oh God. Peter watched as Tony spread his arms and legs. Then saw the suit shoot out of the building above that exploded with flames and do a loop before spiralling down, attaching itself to Tony who then dove with more speed, his repulsors glowing behind him.  
“Hang on Pete, I’m gonna catch you I promise,” Tony said faintly.  
Peter closed his eyes. The ground was so close. A tear trickled down his cheek. 

Then strong arms wrapped around him and Peter’s stomach lurched as they shot forward instead of falling, skimming the ground ever so slightly. Peter clung to Tony’s chest so tightly. Tony;s arms were firmly clutching him, one hand around his back, the other holding his head to his chest. Tony touched down where he could and both he and Peter crumpled, breathing hard. Tony scrambled over to Peter, ignoring the rushing in his head. He just had to make sure Peter was ok. He was the only thing that mattered. "You..." Peter coughed, "jumped out of a window." "Yeah genius, I did," Tony laughed, cupping a hand under his neck to support his head that was laying against the rough concrete.  
“Nice catch,” Peter said breathlessly, wheezing and holding his stomach.  
“Shut up Parker,” Tony said, sitting up further and grabbing Peter, and pulling him up and into his chest, holding him even tighter, one hand in Peter’s curls. He cupped the back of the kid's head and closed his eyes. Both of their heartbeats were abnormally fast but they would slow down. Eventually. Tony knew Peter was in his arms. And he was safe. "Don't ever do that again," Tony demanded, resting his chin on Peter's head who moved closer to him and nodded slightly.  
“Yep,” Peter winced, sinking into Tony’s embrace.  
Silence. Tony breaths a deep sigh of relief. “Thanks for catching me dad,” Peter murmurs, his brain shutting down. He leans heavily against Tony who is more than happy to support him.  
“Always will Pete,” Tony whispers, still ruffling his kid's hair, "Always will."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you thought of that last one. Hope it was worth the wait. Have an awesome day!  
> Thanks for reading <3 <3 <3


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